Pains of Identity
by Tyler Nator
Summary: Six months on from the defeat of the Dark Signers, Satellite and New Domino City have become unified. And Tyler Nochi, thanks to the reemergence of an old friend, will struggle between choosing to be the person he wants to be, or the person that he's remembered as. But with a new threat looming on the horizon, Tyler soon finds his personal issues are the least of his worries.
1. (Just Like) Starting Over

**Welcome to ****"Pains of Identity".**

**This is a sequel to ****"Reverse of Arcadia", so if you haven't read that, I'd suggest going back and giving that a quick read first. Though if you're familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and haven't read "Reverse of Arcadia", you should still be able to pick things up relatively quickly.**

**Special Thanks to**_** 2dayIsUrDay**_** for helping out briefly with basic notation, and AnimeAndMangaFan for assisting with Chapters Three and Four.**

**Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the story.**

* * *

"So, Mr. Nochi. Are you going to lie down or sit up this time?"

I brought my eyes away from the floor as I moved to the back of the couch, straightening myself up before facing the man in front of me. "You know what? I'm gonna mix it up a little and sit up." I replied cheekily, before I tittered and the psychiatrist joined me in, what I perceived by him to be forced laughter.

"How have you been?" he asked me seriously.

"Great. _Great_! Um… You know, Taze and I…" I sighed, drawing a blank as I tried to think of stuff that Taze and I had done. When there was of course really only _one_ thing that we _had_ done. "We've done stuff for the band…" I muttered, the tone of my voice showing that I was less than enthusiastic about that.

The psychiatrist nodded. "Do you still play Lowercase music?"

"No, we switched it up again. You know how we went from Mathcore, to Showtunes, to Lowercase? Well now we've gone from Lowercase to New Age Neo-Classic Cowpunk… Whatever that is…"

"And how does that make you feel?"

"Uh, fine. I mean, it's his thing. I don't really care to be honest."

"Okay. How do you think you would feel if you… had recollection of these past events and your former friendship with Taze?"

"I'd probably be more willing to go along with things than I am now. I don't know what I was like. I don't know what _he_ was like in comparison to how he is now. He keeps telling me about the kind of person I was, the kind of music I liked. Some of the things that he's said I've done, that we did together, I find it hard to believe that I'd even go along with most of it."

"I can see that you're moving down the path of being who you were before the, uh, accident. Is that a fair thing to say?"

"I guess… I mean, I'm not trying for me. I'm trying for him. No one wants to hang out with someone when everything that comes out of their mouth is negative."

The psychiatrist nodded again. "When you first came in here, you said that you felt distant and detached. Do you feel that, now that your relationship with Taze has strengthened, you're not only being the person _he_ wants you to be, but the person _you_ want to be as well? Are you happy with how things are going?"

"Well things could always be better, right? I'd love to have memories that go back further than a year, you know? But… I am happier than I was six months ago, and Taze is probably a big part of that. I know that I'm probably not what he wants me to be but… I'm happy."

"If you're happy, I'm sure he's happy too." The psychiatrist straightened up a little before asking me another question. "And… What about everyone else? Have you spoken to them at all?"

My heart skipped a beat. The others. Yusei. Jack. Crow. Akiza. Leo. Luna.

Truth be told, I hadn't actually seen much of them since moving into my new apartment, though I'd heard that Jack was now living with Carly. Yusei and Crow on the other hand were rather unsuccessful in finding places to live, and so they had been living in the garage below a clock shop called Poppo Time. Yusei and Crow were apparently happy with this arrangement, which I personally found a little weird. But at least they had space for their Duel Runners, which is what they cared most about. Yusei had become a freelance mechanic, and Crow a freelance delivery boy. Jack... Jack was focusing on his Duel Runner, which he kept at Poppo Time along with Yusei's and Crow's because he apparently didn't want people around the apartment touching it, which is what he was legitimately afraid of.

Akiza, Leo and Luna had enrolled at Duel Academy. I'd heard that Leo was struggling a little in class but that Akiza and Luna were doing fine, academic-wise. I'd only heard all of this from Yusei, as I hadn't seen Akiza since defeating the Dark Signers, or the twins after spending that night in their apartment. This was of course all intentional on my part.

"No, I haven't. The last time I was with them, I almost ruined everything. I want to talk to them… It-it is a _little_ boring just having Taze… but I'm afraid... that if I screw up, I'll drive them away for good." I sighed. "I know what I need to do. I need to focus, I need to get into a better state of mind. When I'm able to do that… I think I'll be alright…"

"Okay… okay…" the psychiatrist muttered to himself, writing down notes on a tablet. "I want you to keep taking your medication. Two of each, three times a day. But really, with how you are now, I don't think there's any reason to have these weekly, uh… conversations… You seem to know now what you need to do and how you're going to go about it. We can organize another appointment in, say, about a month? Just for a check-up. When are you free?"

"Um… All the time. I'm flexible, whatever you think is best.""Okay… how about a Tuesday?"

"Yeah, that's cool…"

"The first in the month?" the psychiatrist asked. I nodded. "Alright… how's nine thirty sound?"

"Fine, yeah. Nine thirty. Okay."

"Listen, you've done really well. And you've come a long way."

"Thank you for saying so."

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." He smiled. I looked towards the clock he had hanging from the wall.

"It's almost lunch time." I observed.

"So it is. Have you got somewhere you need to be?"

"Oh, no-no-no." I backpedaled. "It was just… I… I have no idea what I was getting at. I'm sorry…" I muttered as I began to laugh.

"That's okay. Actually, we could wrap this up now if you wanted."

"Yep." I said, calming down.

"Alright, well, again, if you need to talk, call me."

"I will." I nodded, getting up and standing in silence as my psychiatrist got to his feet as well.

"Good luck." He smiled.

"Thanks." I muttered, before letting myself out. As the door closed behind me, I sighed. I knew what I needed to do.

I just wasn't sure if I could do it.

* * *

"Well this sucks..." Taze muttered, as he continued to flick through channel after channel, his unblinking hazel eyes focused intensely on the television set in my apartment.

"What sucks?" I asked, sitting down next to him on my couch.

Taze sighed. "Every single channel's doing something about the Grand Prix, even the Comedy Channel..."

"Well it _is_ a pretty big deal..." I noted. After all, the World Racing Grand Prix was a celebration about the completion of the Daedalus Bridge, which successfully intertwined the Satellite with the mainland of New Domino City. Apparently the old bridge that I had seen when I last visited Satellite was still there, and they just built a new bridge adjacent to it. "Come on. Think about it."

"It's _only_ important if you're into Duel Monsters." Taze argued. "The rest of us would like to watch South Park without all the interruptions..."

"If there wasn't something on the Grand Prix, there'd still be commercials. At least they're not showing those depressing Life Insurance commercials at all hours of the day now."

"I guess you're right..." Taze murmured, turning to me. "So what have you got planned for the afternoon? 'Cause I was thinkin' maybe we could work on our songs a little more..."

I turned away. The last thing I wanted to do after getting back from a therapy session where I talked about Taze and music and all that stuff was focus _more_ on that. That was practically the only thing we had been doing together anyway, and to be honest, I didn't really care about it.

The unfortunate thing, for both me and Taze, was that I hadn't told him that.

"Actually I was thinking of heading to the Library. Get a couple books."

"Oh yeah? On what?"

"Well... I dunno... just... fiction..." I murmured.

"We've only got a _little_ bit more work we need to do on the songs... C'mon, man."

"Alright then... Fine..." I muttered.

"Awesome!" Taze smiled, getting up off the couch as I reached to my side, getting my bottle of pills. I opened it up, tipping out two, which I took together just as Taze returned with his acoustic guitar. "All the songs need two guitars to really take off though..." Taze began to play something which sounded familiar, but ultimately got lost on me. "See? You have to have the lead as an intro, and then have the second come in as the rhythm..."

"Well wouldn't you need an electric to play the lead?"

"Nah, man. We get you an acoustic so that you can play the rhythm. Neither will overpower one another that way."

"If you say so, but you _know_ I'm not that good..." I stated. With the work that we had done, it might've been my lack of effort, or just the blatant fact that I suck, but it wasn't as if it was _unknown_ to him. Still, every time he'd start off like this, I'd have to remind him.

"You just need to have a little faith in yourself, that's all." Taze sighed.

"You sound just like Explosivo..." I muttered.

Taze looked at me sternly for a couple seconds before turning away. I had told him that I was able to communicate with Duel Spirits, though I don't think he really understood what it all meant. I didn't expect him to understand it, but I really wanted him to. All I really had was these brief memories that were more or less like puzzle pieces that I could never figure out where they were supposed to go, and Taze didn't really know that much about the new me.

"By the way, how's it been trying to accumulate the rest of the set?" he asked.

"It's been going great." I answered truthfully, knowing exactly what he meant. "Maybe I'll actually start playing again."

"You thinkin' of entering the Tournament?"

"I'm not sure. The rules say that you need at least two people, and you compete as a team. Apparently there's a maximum of three on a team. Yusei, Jack and Crow have probably promised to compete together, so that makes me the odd one out."

"That's just an assumption, isn't it? Why don't you ask if you can compete with them?"

"Well I don't want them to have to choose between two people. And it's not right if Yusei had already promised Jack and Crow that he'd ride with them, and then I come in and ask if I can be on the team. It would just be awkward." Plus, I couldn't even talk to them yet anyway, not until I had sorted myself out.

"Isn't there a pit crew for each team? Why don't you just ask if you can be on that?"

"Why would I wanna be on the pit crew when I could be racing?"

"Alright. Just a suggestion..." Taze sighed. "Okay, how 'bout this: Worst comes to worst, you don't get to ride on a team. What if I managed to book us a gig playing at the Stadium during the Grand Prix?"

I threw my head back, thinking to myself how ridiculous that would be.

"I probably wouldn't be up for it, even if you did. I'm hardly comfortable singing in the shower, so there's no way I'd be able to sing in front of pretty much everyone in New Domino." I stated, trying to coax Taze into dropping the idea.

"You _do_ realize that it's _just_ a _Duel_ _Monsters_ Tournament, right? Not that many people will come to watch that sort of thing..."

"Dude, New Domino City was _deserted_ during the Fortune Cup. Everybody in the City was at the Stadium watching what was goin' on..."

"Of course they were. There was a crossdresser as one of the contestants... How would you _not_ go to see that?"

"What?!"

"Yeah, apparently someone dressed up as his sister and took her place in the tournament."

"Who'd _do_ something like _that_...?"

Taze laughed. "I know, right! But that's beside the point. You really shouldn't be worried about performing or anything. Your voice is fine. It's got good volume, you're on pitch. You're just... straining it a little."

"It's kinda hard not to strain my voice when I either have to belt or scream everything out. There is no pitch. Last week, after we ran through most of our songs, I lost my voice."

"Alright... Fair enough..." Taze sighed. "Maybe we don't need to do any more work today then. I'll finish the songs myself, but the next time we meet, we'd better get started on planning out a setlist."

"Okay fine..." I muttered.

Taze nodded, getting up off the couch as he put his guitar back in its case. "I'll call ya in a couple o' days then..." With that, Taze left my apartment and I shrunk back on the couch. I wasn't sure that what I was doing was the right thing to do, going along with what Taze wanted. Unlike before, there was no supernatural force or 'assigned guardian' around to dictate what I did or how I did it. I was in complete control of my own destiny, yet I still felt pressured to go along with what Taze wanted because it occurred to me that it was also what 'the old me' probably would have wanted too.

Right at that point though, I didn't care what 'the old me' wanted. _I_ just wanted to get on my Duel Runner and hit the road, which is exactly what I did.

Retrieving my Duel Runner from the underground parking, I then took to the streets of the new Daimon Area, which had since experienced a dramatic change in its look, thanks to the devoted people at the Public _Security_ Maintenance Bureau, which was a recent amalgamation between Sector Security and the New Domino Public Administrations Bureau. New buildings had cropped up around town as well, such as the Daimon Square Public Library, copious dance clubs, and an unnecessary amount of fast food joints, mostly just McDonald's and MOS Burger.

I went down to the Library and spent the better part of the day reading books about personality, as well as some non-fiction on how to correctly manage stress. Whenever I'd go down to it, I'd almost always find the Library filled with school students who were either supposed to be studying, but were on Facebook, or who actually _were_ studying. The latter was very rare to see.

I stayed at the Library until a few hours before closing time, at which point I took a drink from a nearby fountain along with another two pills. I got onto my Duel Runner and was ready to head on home until I got a call from Taze.

I still hadn't got used to it yet. I had to get a new phone because my mom supposedly canceled the plan she had me on a few days after I called her. So I managed to get a really crummy phone on a limited plan for a really good price, _and_ I got to keep my old number, so that was pretty good.

Ringtone or not, I found it surprising to be getting a call from Taze, especially since he said the next time he'd call would be in a couple days time. Usually whatever he had to say could wait until then, and so he wouldn't call. Nevertheless, I answered, fully expecting him to be wanting to talk about the band when I did so.

"Hello?"

"Dude! You gotta get over here _now_!" Taze shouted. "There's some freaky shit going on!"

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down…!" I cautioned. "Where are you?"

"Just outside the city. You know where the old park was? There's like this crater, and a ton of cops are around. Something crashed here… I can't explain it, you'll just have to come and see."

I put my phone to my chest and looked down at the floor slowly, almost aimlessly. I heard Taze call my name, asking if I was still there, his voice muffled from my phone against my body. Silently, I raised my phone back against my ear.

"I'll be right there."

* * *

I drastically decreased the speed of my Duel Runner once I saw the sheer amount of vehicles that were parked near the curb protecting the sparse grass which receded further towards the crater. To be honest, I wouldn't have actually noticed it if it hadn't have been for the bright yellow tape surrounding it that read '_Access restricted. Do not cross_' along with the horde of people around, most of them members of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, and all of them making noise.

As I treaded the ground, I found myself recalling that moment six months ago, where I had stared into a crater almost like this one. The site of the Original Momentum Reactor. Although the depth of the hole wasn't the same, the feeling that accompanied it was. Uncertainty.

The wind howled, tugging at my clothes as I slowed my breathing. I walked unhurriedly, silently making my way over to where Taze was standing. Members of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau were occupied with holding back some of the more nosy members of the crowd.

"What do you think could have made this?" Taze asked, not even looking at me.

"I don't know..." I muttered, my eyes scanning the ground ahead for some sort of debris, but there was nothing. Just a crater surrounded by yellow tape.

My body started to shake. I could feel that something dark and sinister had come from the crater. Something had been here, and we'd missed it.

But I knew that this was just the beginning…

A sign of things to come…


	2. Ghost

"The twenty-two year old was on his way home from a friend's house around one o'clock yesterday morning when he was challenged to a Duel by someone with an unregistered Duel Runner. The man was killed when he apparently lost control of his Duel Runner, and collided with the side of Eastern Combat Lane A22. It's the fifth fatal accident to occur in New Domino City this week, and security still has yet to give a statement. Citizens of New Domino City are calling this individual, who has not been officially identified, as 'The Ghost'."

Taze and I sat in my apartment, listening to the news report. Well, _I_ was listening. Taze was tinkering with his guitar not really paying attention to anything else. I looked to him silently as his eyes kept to the neck of the instrument, his focus intense. I turned back to the television.

"Once again, we urge everyone on Duel Runners to be safe on the road and in the Combat Lanes. Be sure to have your auto-pilot active while Turbo Dueling, and make sure you know your opponent. Also a reminder that standard road rules apply outside of a Turbo Duel, and all non-Dueling vehicles must abide by Central Grid Authority and vacate all in-use Combat Lanes. This is Brendan Dross reporting for the New Domino News Network."

I switched the television off, silently putting the remote down as I wordlessly began to ponder everything I had just heard.

"Shame…" Taze muttered, before immediately perking up. "So anyway, I thought for the band we could-"

"Are you serious?" I cut Taze off. "Did you not just…?! Someone just _died_, Taze. That's like, five people dead in over a week." It had to have something to do with that crater. It had to be more than a coincidence. What? Some random object falls from space and crashes into Earth and now some guy is riding around and all these 'accidents' are happening? No. There was something else going on. Something more that we weren't seeing, that we weren't being told. There had to be. I felt it at the crash site, and every time a news report came on, I'd feel it again.

"Well what the Hell do you want _me_ to do?"

"Well, I don't know what _you're_ going to do, but _I'm_ gonna go out there and find out what the Hell's going on!"

"Oh yeah, you're totally just gonna go to the Public Security Bureau and be like 'Hey! Tell me what's happening!', right?" Taze mocked.

"No. I'm gonna head out on my Duel Runner and find this guy who's _murdering_ people!" I asserted.

Taze seemed to take a moment to process what I just said. "That's even crazier! Were _you_ not listening to the news report?! Everyone who has gone up against this guy has either died or ended up in the hospital! I need you alive and kicking! We need to do these songs for the band!"

"Forget about the band for like five fucking minutes, dude! Seriously! People are getting killed, probably right now, and I'm perfectly capable of doing something about it!"

Taze sighed. "So… these six months then have just been a joke to you, or what?" he asked, moving his hands about.

"Excuse me?"

"You want to waste what we've been doing for the past six months?"

I closed my eyes. "Okay… So us becoming friends… That doesn't matter to you unless we have some music written down on a sheet of paper. Is that it? That's all you care about? Because that's what I'm getting from what you just said."

"How many pills did you take before?"

"Two. That's what I was prescribed. Why are you changing the subject?"

"Right, well I'm gonna leave. Hopefully when I see you tomorrow, you'll have come down off whatever it is you're on." Taze said, getting up after hastily packing away his things.

"Wait, _what_?"

"Have a good night, Tyler." Taze snarked, his guitar case violently knocking against the side of his right leg as he left my apartment.

I sat back against the couch as my body twitched in frustration. As I started going over what had happened, I shook my head. I _couldn't_ think about what just happened with Taze when there was this 'Ghost' going about! The more time that I spent in my apartment meant less time I could be out looking for him.

I got up and walked over to my set of drawers, getting my deck box from underneath a pile of my un-ironed clothes.

I opened up my deck box and proceeded to sift through my cards. Most of the people that had gone up against this Ghost had been practicing for the Grand Prix, so the majority of them were tournament-level players. I wasn't sure of the chance that I'd have against this guy, especially since I hadn't really Dueled against anyone in a while, much less even a Turbo Duel, but I wasn't about to let some guy keep on killing people when Security seemed adamant in just letting things be.

Besides, I helped Yusei and the others defeat the Dark Signers, so that had to at least count for something.

_Yusei_…

I fidgeted, turning to shut the drawer as I took a moment to look around my apartment.

I grabbed my keys and started locking up, hoping I wouldn't run into Yusei or any of the others while I was out.

* * *

I kept my eyes focused intently on the path in front of me as I continued down the road. Traffic whizzed past me. All cars and vans. No Duel Runners. I sighed, bringing my left hand up, running it along the side of my helmet before sliding it back down again.

The news report said that the Turbo Duel had happened in one of the Eastern Combat Lanes, so I figured that my best bet was to take the eastern tunnel entry to the Underpass, get on the Highway and head east and just ride around for a little while, hoping I'd run into the Ghost at some point.

I know it wasn't really much of a plan, but I hadn't really had much time to think of one since just deciding that I'd go out and look for him. I probably should've been a bit more organized and spent some time actually thinking about the best course of action to take instead of just riding around, almost aimlessly, expecting to bump into this guy.

Then again, no one ever expected to run into the Ghost, and those that did were either dead or injured. I wasn't actually worried about the prospect of dying, strangely enough. I was more focused on tracking this guy down and hoping that I'd be able to put up a fight.

My heart pounded furiously in my chest as I heard another Duel Runner approaching from behind me. I could tell because the sound of the engine was cleaner, lighter. My tension was relieved, albeit only slightly, as a symbol flashed on my Duel Runner's front screen, showing that the Duel Runner behind me was in fact a registered one.

I turned to my right as the person came up beside me. It was someone that I hadn't seen in person since I left the Satellite, someone that I was certainly less than enthusiastic about seeing.

"C-Crow!" I stammered.

"Hey, Tyler! Long time no see!" Crow cheered. "What have ya been up to?"

My blood ran cold. Truthfully, I had been avoiding him, Yusei and the others. But I couldn't tell him that, and it wasn't anything to do with him. I sighed.

"Therapy." I said, my voice a little shaky. "You?"

"Working long hours." Crow replied. "You out here for the same reason as us?"

"Yeah, I've uh… I've been having these weird feelings that something's been going on."

"You know, Tetsu was done in a couple hours ago."

"Shit, you serious? Is he alright?" I asked.

"He's in the hospital but he should be fine."

"What did he say?"

"Well it's definitely a person riding around, but he only targets Turbo Duelists. And apparently, Synchro Monsters don't work against him."

"That's not good..." I muttered. My body twitched as I forced myself to ask a question that I was sure I already had the answer to. "So I take it Yusei and Jack are out here as well?"

"Yeah. We split up to cover more ground."

While I was relieved at the reduced possibility of having to see Yusei or Jack for the time being, I was still worried for their safety. I mean, I knew that either of them could probably handle the Ghost with no problems, but still…

"You sure that's wise?" I asked.

"You came alone." Crow pointed out.

"Exactly."

"Crow, who's there?" I heard Yusei's voice come through on Crow's Duel Runner. Yusei must've been doing a video call with Crow, and probably Jack as well. My heart skipped a beat.

"Tyler." Crow smiled.

"Really?" Yusei asked, sounding legitimately surprised. "Put him on the call." he said.

I cringed. This was not at _all_ how I thought this night was going to go. "I-I don't th-think that's…"

I tried to protest, but before I knew it, another icon briefly flashed on the screen and Yusei's face appeared in a little window. "Hey, Tyler." He greeted. "How've you been?"

I froze up, my entire body tensing as my heart and lungs felt like they were about to burst. I closed my eyes, trying to stay calm whilst in the midst of a panic attack.

"Good." I could just barely answer. "I've been… good..." There was literally no tone to my voice. It was just a low, dry grumble. I only then just noticed that there were two other windows on the screen, one of Jack, and the other for Crow. "Hey, Jack…" I muttered.

"Hey." came Jack's reply.

A long silence followed. Although my panic had died down, I was still feeling awkward talking to everyone, even through the screen on my Duel Runner. I realized though, that at least for the moment, I had to focus on what was really important and try and get over my own insecurities.

This wasn't about me. This was about finding the Ghost and putting an end to him.

"Alright, guys! Give us a shout if you see him! We'll be right there, right, Tyler?" Crow asked, turning to me.

I nodded.

* * *

The sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the city in a faint glow. We'd been out for almost the whole night looking for the Ghost, but none of us had had any luck at all so far. And I was dead tired.

"Looks like the sun is starting to come up." Crow said.

"We've been riding around for this long and he _still_ hasn't shown up...?" Jack muttered, his voice coming through my Duel Runner.

I yawned, shaking my head a little. "Well if he hasn't shown up yet, I doubt he'll show up now. Maybe we should pack it in." I suggested.

"No way!" Jack shouted. "The Ghost is here, and we're gonna find him!"

"Jack's right!" Yusei asserted. "If we don't find this guy and put a stop to him, more innocent people will be put in danger."

"Well I've been watching the news every night, and they're saying all these attacks are happening either really late at night, or really early in the morning. And we'd probably know if he'd attacked someone else, right? I mean, we haven't seen any ambulances drive by or anything. Maybe it's not something this guy does every night. He's… he's got to sleep, hasn't he?"

"Maybe…" Crow muttered.

There was a moment of silence from the others before Yusei gasped. "H-he's here! It's the Ghost!" He shouted.

"What!? Where are you now?" Jack asked.

"I'm in the Central Lane at the moment. H26." Yusei explained.

"Okay, we'll be right there! Kick his ass, Yusei!" Crow encouraged, before he increased his speed. He switched lanes, moving up and in front of me before speeding up again.

Something came at me and I flinched, making my Runner stop dead in its tracks. It took me a while to compose myself, as my heart was back to pounding in my chest. I heard a voice echo throughout the city, stating that a Turbo Duel was about to begin, before asking all pedestrian vehicles to vacate the lanes.

"Tyler! Why'd ya stop?!" Crow's voice came through.

"What?! Tyler stopped?" Jack shouted.

"Something almost hit me!" I explained. "And Crow, you kinda cut me off anyway! But look, that does-that doesn't matter. You guys just go on ahead! I'll be there soon…"

"Fine…" Jack grumbled.

"The Hell was _that_…?" I mumbled. I sighed, taking my Runner to the side of the lane before beginning to backtrack. I didn't even know what it was that almost hit me, and I knew that, in comparison to what was also going on, my stuff wasn't really important, but still…

It took about ten minutes or so. My speed was slow, probably three miles an hour if that, but I found what I was looking for. I threw my Runner into park, got up off it and walked over to the object.

Crow's headband.

As my eyes kept on it, my mind almost went ten to the dozen. Seriously, why would Crow be wearing his headband under his helmet?! And how could it even get dislodged and fly off?!

I sighed, deciding not to try and think about the likelihood or logic of the situation and just pick it up and hold onto it so I could return it to Crow.

Of course, Crow was now so far ahead of me, and if he kept a constant speed, even if I pushed my Runner to its max, I still wouldn't be able to catch up to him.

Clutching Crow's headband in my hand, I walked back over to my Duel Runner. I almost dropped it as I saw what was on the screen.

The massive monster that Yusei was facing.

It might not have been as big as the Earthbound Immortals were, but it was still pretty impressive, and Yusei looked to be in pretty bad shape.

Adrenaline coursed through my body as I got back on my Duel Runner and took off, pushing my Runner to try and make up for time.

A few minutes in, I just decided to map out my route, turn the auto-pilot on and watch Yusei's Duel with the Ghost. I soon found out what Crow meant about Synchro Monsters being useless. Yusei'd had his Stardust Dragon absorbed by that robot monster the Ghost had, with Stardust's attack power being added to the other monster.

I brought my hand up and then down, slamming it onto the side of my Duel Runner. I turned the auto-pilot off as I absolutely pushed my Duel Runner as fast as it could go. I took the turns a little too quickly, but I eventually caught sight of the lane that Yusei said that he and the Ghost were in.

I smiled as although I couldn't see Yusei, I could see that he now had his Majestic Star Dragon in play, and that was enough reassurance for me that Yusei would be fine. The dragon charged at the metallic beast, obliterating it and cloaking the area in white fire. I had to slow down and shut my eyes from the intensity of it, and when I opened them again, neither Yusei, nor the Ghost were anywhere to be seen.

"Yusei, what's going on? Are you okay?" I asked, looking down at the screen.

Yusei breathed heavily before replying. "I'm fine…"

"You don't sound fine." I observed.

"The damage in that Duel was real… I felt it…"

"What, you mean like with the Dark Signers?"

Yusei exhaled sharply. "Yeah…"

"…Fuck…"

"But look, we can't worry about that right now! The Ghost fell off the lane! We have to go help him!" Yusei insisted. "We can't just leave him!"

I nearly scoffed at that, but I held it in. While I thought it was nice that Yusei was willing to _anybody_ in need, I was also irritated by that fact, especially at that present moment. This guy killed, like, five dudes, injured Tetsu, and others, and Yusei wanted to _save_ him. Why couldn't he just let him die?

I didn't want to say any of that for fear of Yusei or the others thinking I was a more horrible person than I already seemed to be, so I just stayed silent as I picked up the pace just a little bit.

There was smoke in the distance, a lot of it. It kept rising, twisting upwards towards the sky, almost blocking out the sun. I slowed my Duel Runner to a stop, looking down towards where the smoke was coming from.

A clearing below the Highway, but there was absolutely no way in Hell that the Ghost could've survived the fall and then escaped in time before his Runner went up in flames.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. Sighing, I reached in and pulled it out.

It was six thirty in the morning.

And Taze had sent me a message.


	3. The Way Old Friends Do

I turned away quickly as I drew the curtains back, the sudden burst of sunlight making my eyes water. My eyes adjusted slowly until I could see again. I smiled. Putting on my now usual attire of denim, I then sprayed myself down with deodorant before setting myself down to continue on with my work.

With everything that had happened with Taze, I realized that I was partly to blame as well, so I decided to spend the morning working on a song of my own in order to try and meet him halfway. I figured that if I could show him that I was, at the very least, trying, then maybe we'd be able to get on a little better.

He came over just as he said he would, and I almost right away launched into what I had done. Taze seemed excited to hear that I'd done some work on my own, but as I played for him, the smile he'd had when he first came around slowly faded, until right at the end I noticed it was a complete look of disdain.

"Wh-what do you think?" I asked. "Is it bad…?"

"Come on, Tyler. That's 'Losing My Religion'." Taze said.

"What do you mean?"

"The passage, what you played. That's already part of a song. 'Losing My Religion' by R.E.M." Taze explained. "You know that, don't you? Or are you just trolling…?"

"No… I don't." I replied honestly. "I've never heard of them, or him, or her, or it, or whatever that is."

Taze rolled his eyes, sighing audibly before turning away. "Bloody amnesia…" I thought I heard him say.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not sure of what it was he actually said, and hoping to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Nothing…" Taze mumbled.

"The only songs I've got on my phone are by Pink Floyd, Steppenwolf, the Cast of Smash and Queensr... Quens..." I sighed. "How the Hell do you pronounce the 'y' with two dots on top?"

Taze turned away from me before getting to his feet. "You know, I think I'd better go."

My heart sank. "Oh…"

"Yeah… I've got stuff to do…" he said, putting his guitar back into its case as he got up to leave.

"Taze, wait!" I called. He turned back to me, almost paralyzing me in his scornful stare. I couldn't bear it anymore, so I decided to just be honest, and ask him what had been most prevalently on my mind. "I told you that when we first met up that I wasn't the same person that you knew. You said that that wasn't a problem, and that you'd be supportive of me and whatever I decided to do, but I'm not getting that from you now… All you want to do is play music, and that's fine, but… I'm not into that… I might have been when I was younger, but I'm not now… I'm willing to try… You _have_ to know I've been trying… I mean, this is fine and everything, but… But I need to know… Am I… Is me being an amnesiac an issue for you?"

Taze turned away from me before quickly opening the door to my apartment, and letting himself out silently.

I sighed. It happened again. Twice had Taze left my apartment this way within such a short amount of time. I'd barely gotten any sleep the last few days because I was so engrossed in getting this right. Now though, it had just seemed like it had been a waste of time.

I tore the sheets of paper up before stuffing them into the trash. My eyes then wandered to the dresser, and the item still resting on top of it.

Crow's headband.

I had been putting off returning it. Not because I wanted to keep it, but because I was still hesitant in talking with either him, Yusei, or any of the others, even with what happened with the Ghost. I knew it was dumb to keep holding onto something that wasn't mine just because I was afraid of having a conversation with them and the like, so I decided that I'd head around to Poppo Time, just to give Crow his headband back.

I really didn't even know what I was worried about, they probably wouldn't have even been home. And if that was the case, then I could just give it to their landlord and be on my way.

* * *

After exiting my apartment, I made my way down to my Duel Runner, exiting the parking lot and heading to the Fountain Plaza, where Poppo Time was located. I had never been there before, but thanks to my GPS, or rather my phone, I knew how to get there without wasting too much time.

Skidding to a stop outside the garage, I saw Yusei and Crow helping Jack work on his Duel Runner, which was connected to a benchmarking program. My heartbeat increased as an uneasy feeling worked its way through me. I clutched Crow's headband tighter.

"The engine's remote synergy is holding steady at eighty percent." Yusei stated.

"What?!" Crow shouted. "What about the power surge? The output is still in the red, so where's the Momentum going?"

"Who cares?!" Jack barked. "It's fixed, and that's what counts!"

I exhaled shakily as I knocked on the door softly. "Hey…" I muttered.

Yusei and Crow turned to me, slight smiles on their faces. "Hey, Tyler."

"Sorry for the other day. Um…" I mumbled, before a smile broke onto my face. "This is what nearly hit me." I said, holding up Crow's headband.

"Crap! My headband! I was looking all over for that when we got back from the Highway!" Crow shouted, rushing over to me as I handed it over to him.

"Yeah… Again, I'm really sorry for what happened…" I apologized.

"Oh, you mean how we hadn't seen you in six months, and then you just show up for a night before leaving us to go pick up the pieces again, no call, no text, nothing? You just abandoning us after the Ghost crashed?" Jack asked.

"I-I know, alright. I know. I've had a lot of stuff on my mind and… probably a lot of what I did and said didn't make much sense to you guys, but I really am sorry."

"That's okay, Tyler." Yusei assured me. "We understand."

"Thanks, Yusei." I grinned as I felt my face getting a little bit hotter. "So… uh… What happened with the Ghost?" I asked.

Yusei and Crow turned to each other. "Well, it's kind of a long story." Crow began. "See… The Ghost… Wasn't a person, really…"

"What do you mean?"

"The Ghost was a robot." Yusei said.

"_What_?" I scoffed.

"It was something that the Public Security Bureau had apparently been working on for a while. Mina called them 'Riding Roids'. The original idea was that it would reduce the amount of officers needed to be out on the streets at any given time. It was designed to catch criminals, but…" Yusei trailed off.

"Someone got their hands on the prototype and reprogrammed it to go around and attack any Turbo Duelist." Crow added.

"Who'd do something like that?" I asked.

"We don't know, But Mina said that she'd be able to handle everything else and we shouldn't worry about it." Yusei sighed. "Anyway, since that night, Jack's Runner has been having a few issues, so we've been helping him fix it." Yusei clarified. "How's yours, by the way?"

"Oh, it's fine. Thank you for asking." I smiled. "So what exactly is the problem with Jack's?"

"The motor keeps overheating and there seems to be a Momentum displacement." Crow said.

"Well there _was_!" Jack piped up. "But my Runner's fine now, see?" Jack revved his Duel Runner a couple times, causing the cards in the Runner's deck zone to fly out everywhere as smoke began to seep out of the engine. "What?!" Jack cried.

"Not again!" Crow yelled.

"Would you please quieten down?!" a voice asked, I turned to see an elderly woman wearing glasses standing near the doorway at the top of the stairs. "I'm trying to watch Operation Criminal Mind Control and I can't hear the television because you're making so much noise down here!"

"Maybe it would help if you had a hearing aid..." Jack mumbled, quiet enough for the woman not to hear.

"Sorry, Zora." Yusei apologized.

"Has Eaves chilled out yet or is she still being weird?" Crow asked the woman.

"The next one who mocks my soaps gets to clean this garage from top to bottom!" Zora shouted, causing Jack and Crow to edge back slightly. "Oh... Hello, who are you?" Zora asked, having only just noticed me.

"This is Tyler." Yusei interjected. "An old friend of ours. The one I told you about."

"I-it's nice to meet you, ma'am." I added politely, taking note that Yusei had supposedly mentioned me in prior conversation.

Zora smiled warmly at me. "Nice to meet you too. I hope that you won't be like these two while you're here." Zora sighed, all but glaring at Jack and Crow.

"What do you mean 'like us'?" Crow asked.

"Like you're never content unless you're causing a racket!" Zora snapped. "From inside, I can't tell if you're fixing something or _breaking_ something!"

"Uh… no, ma'am. I won't cause a racket..." I muttered.

"Good, because these two are on _very_ thin ice! Now, I'm going back to watch my show, and I don't want to have to come out here again! Is that understood?" Zora asked.

"Yes, Zora..." Jack and Crow both groaned. Zora then turned and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Well... she's in a good mood today..." Crow snidely remarked.

"I think the old hag needs to get out more!" Jack added. I glanced towards the door, hoping Zora didn't hear that.

"C'mon guys!" Yusei chided. "She's letting us stay here without having us pay any rent or electricity costs. So be grateful. And Jack, you live with Carly anyway. You're a guest here, so why not show Zora some respect?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Crow muttered, looking at the cards scattered along the floor. "Anyway, we'd better take care of this... Tyler, would you mind helping me clean these up?" he asked.

"Not at all!" I smiled, crouching down and picking up some of the cards. "Hey, can I just ask… Why'd you put your deck in the Runner when there's no point in having it in there since it's the motor?"

"That's _exactly_ what _I_ said to _him_!" Crow sighed. "But what can ya do? It's like talking to a wall sometimes…"

"So, Tyler. I never really got to hear how you've been going lately. Everything okay?" Yusei asked, his eyes focused on the computer screen in front of him.

"Yeah… Uh... I-I've been going okay..." I muttered. "It's been a little stressful, but preparing for the Grand Prix must be the same, right?"

"Yeah, it is a bit. We have to make sure that our decks and our Runners are up to scratch. We've been pretty preoccupied with other stuff lately, so it's getting to the point where we really need to get a move on." Yusei said, now turning to me.

"I get that..." I smiled, retrieving my small bottle of pills from my front pocket, before pouring two into my hand, lifting it up and into my mouth, quietly swallowing. "I mean, there's tons of other stuff going on, and so it must be hard to keep on top of everything."

"It is, but we've got each other, so it's not so bad." Yusei smiled. I nodded, picking up two more cards from the ground.

"So, Jack…" I began. "How's living with Carly?"

"Not too bad. She's always out trying to get stories and stuff, so that leaves me with plenty of time to myself, or to come around here and work on my Runner."

"Wait, but how do you get here if your Runner's already here?" I asked. "Do you walk?"

Jack chuckled. "No. I get Carly to take me. What are you talking about? Do _I_ _walk_?"

"But you said that she was always out."

"Yeah, I get her to come back to our apartment and take me here."

"Don't worry about it, Tyler." Crow interjected. "The main thing is, Jack is _lazy_."

"_Excuse_ me?!" Jack shouted, getting up and walking over to Crow. "What did you say?!"

"Guys, come on. Let's not make any more noise." Yusei said.

The doors swung wide open again and I turned, expecting to see Zora, but instead seeing Leo, Luna, and a bunch of other kids, all wearing the Duel Academy Uniform, at the top of the stairs.

"Yusei!" Leo shouted.

"We brought some friends over!" Luna added as they all ran down the stairs to meet him.

"Perfect..." Jack murmured sarcastically.

"You mean noise like _that_?" Crow asked.

"Hey guys!" Yusei greeted, the kids running over to him.

"Whoa, hey! What's with the mess? Didn't you guys just clean up yesterday?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, what happened?" Luna inquired.

"There's a problem with the sub-generator's EPS output which is causing the motor to overheat." Crow explained.

"Oh! That all?" Leo asked, laughing as Luna groaned before her eyes met mine.

"Tyler! You're back!" Luna chirped as I found myself almost tackled to the ground only just after getting to my feet. "It's been so long! I didn't know you would be in New Domino...! How have you been doing?" she asked, squeezing me a little tighter.

I smiled, putting my hands just above her waist to return the hug as she looked up at me. "I have been doing _awesome_!" I said, with utmost enthusiasm. While it wasn't strictly true what I said, what with what happened with Taze and everything, she didn't need to know that. No one did.

"That's great! And hey, guess what? Leo and I had our birthday a couple months ago! We're twelve now!"

"I can tell!" I replied, once again with as much enthusiasm as possible. "You and Leo have really shot up! You're almost as tall as Crow now!"

Crow muttered something under his breath as Luna giggled a little. Luna straightened up, her laughter ceasing. "Oh! That's right, I almost forgot! Tyler, these are my friends! Guys, this is Tyler!" she said, letting go of me.

"Sweet!" one of the kids cried. He was solidly built and had short-cut dark-blond hair. "A Duel Runner!" he shouted, running over to Jack's, much to his chagrin.

"I've never been so close to one!" a girl swooned. Her blonde hair was tied up similarly to Luna's but was longer and flowed down past the sides of her head, contrasting with her darker skin.

"Can I touch it?" the other boy asked. He had a sort of mullet thing going and wore a thick pair of glasses.

I chuckled as Luna groaned, clearly irritated that her school friends seemed to be ignoring me. I didn't mind though. I'd probably be excited too if I was their age and hadn't really seen a Duel Runner up close until now.

"No way!" Jack protested. "This isn't a toy!"

"Please take me out for a spin!" the solidly-built boy begged.

"And then me!" the girl pleaded.

"Absolutely not! It isn't safe, you're just children!" Jack shouted. "Besides, why would I take you out for a ride if I wouldn't let you touch it?"

"It's not even working at the moment anyway…" I added, Luna's friends seemingly just now acknowledging me.

"Okay, how about this?" Crow began. "If you guys help Tyler pick up all the cards, we'll let you ride on our Duel Runners with us!"

"_Really_?" the kids asked.

"Well I didn't agree to that, but alright..." I mumbled.

"Yeah, of course! Now hop to it while I find some spare helmets." Crow said as he walked over and began looking through the drawers and cabinets.

The kids eagerly got down on their knees and scurried around, picking up the cards as quickly as possible.

I bent down to retrieve Jack's Archfiend Interceptor and as I went to get the card, Luna's left hand landed on top of mine. Luna looked towards me and blushed. "Sorry…" she muttered.

"It's alright, you got it." I smiled, taking my hand away as Luna took the card.

"Um…" Luna mumbled.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Luna's eyes widened as she looked back to me. "N-nothing, it's just… I called you a couple times but it said your number was disconnected or something and I didn't know where you lived or if you were staying somewhere and I got a little worried."

"Oh, you must've called while I was getting my new phone. Sorry. I didn't even know you called."

"That's okay. I'm just glad you're alright." Luna smiled. "So where are you living now?"

"Oh! Well I've got a sweet little apartment in the Daimon Area. It's got free Wi-Fi, so that's nice…"

"Maybe I could… visit you sometime…?"

"I'd like that." I said, a smile slowly forming on my face.

"So I sort of blew it today in class, Yusei." Leo began.

"He blows it _every_ day in class!" a voice sounded. I turned to see another boy standing at the top of the stairs in the Duel Academy Uniform. His long, black hair was held up above his face by what I assumed was copious amounts of hair gel.

"Sly!" Luna shouted, as everyone turned to him.

"Oh, _you're_ here? I thought you'd be off doing something anti-social like you usually do." Leo grumbled.

"Yeah, I could see it was a mistake coming here anyway..." Sly groaned, turning back to the door as he began to walk out.

"Wait!" Luna yelled. "Don't listen to my brother! I'm glad you came by!" Luna smiled, running up to him and taking his hand.

Sly tried to pull away slightly, blushing madly.

"Everyone, this is Sly." Luna introduced him. "He's in our class and he's a great Duelist!" Luna was now tugging Sly down by his wrist. "Aren't ya, Sly?"

"It's nice to meet you, Sly. My name is Yusei Fudo." he said, extending his hand out to Sly's.

"I know who you are." Sly said bluntly, knocking Yusei's hand away. "And honestly, I'm not impressed."

"Why you-" Leo began.

"C'mon guys! Do ya wanna go for a ride or _what_!?" Crow shouted. Immediately, all of the kids got back to the task at hand, scurrying around to pick up the cards, arguing about who had the most and who saw which card first.

"Has anyone seen Stardust Dragon yet?" Yusei called out. "I think I might've mixed him in with the cards we put into Jack's Duel Runner."

"I don't have it, sorry Yusei." I said.

"Is that this one?" Sly asked, holding up Stardust Dragon.

"Yeah it is, thanks." Yusei said, taking it out of Sly's hand as he twitched slightly.

"Okay! That's all the cards!" Leo shouted.

"All right, I've got the helmets. Tyler, who do you wanna take?" Crow asked.

"Whoever..." I shrugged.

"Okay then, I'll take..." Crow stopped. "I'm sorry, what are your names?"

"My name's Dexter Hayano!" the kid with glasses said.

"I'm Robert Uono, but call me Bob." the solid kid said.

"And my name is Patty Iroiya." the girl said softly.

"Just your first names were all I needed." Crow chuckled. "Okay, since my Runner's got a slightly bigger seat, I'll take Bob and Dexter. Tyler, you okay with taking Patty?"

"Your call." I said, once again being apathetic. I grabbed a spare helmet and walked over to Patty. "Here you go." I said, handing her the helmet.

"Wait, what about Sly?" Luna asked.

"Doesn't matter!" Sly grumbled. "I've got some stuff to do!" he said, getting up and making his way back up the steps before leaving.

"Nice boy..." Jack snickered.

Patty put on the helmet and followed me out to my Duel Runner.

"Wow! It's looks really cool!" Patty swooned.

"Thanks..." I slotted my helmet over my head, stretching out a little before getting on my Runner, moving forward against the seat. "You alright getting on?" I asked.

"Um... Yeah, I think so…" she said. Patty moved to my side before bringing her leg up and around, moving forward against me as she sat down, her hands moving to my hips.

"Alright, you good?"

"Yep!" Patty smiled.

"Okay, since this is your first time, I won't be going too fast or anything, but if you ever feel uncomfortable, just tell me."

"Okay."

* * *

The ride with Patty was actually pretty good, not that I was expecting it to be bad or anything. There were a couple of times where she actually wanted me to go a little faster, which was surprising. Other than that, she was extremely polite and very well-behaved.

I could only imagine what it would've been like for Crow to ride with Bob and Dexter.

Anyway, Patty and I arrived back at Poppo Time in the late afternoon, around the same time that Crow came back with Dexter and Bob. All of the kids had to leave then, and I was just about to make my move home as well.

"Well, I'm probably gonna go too." I said, making my way to the door.

"Actually, could I have you stay back for a bit to monitor the computer for me? I need to go and check on something inside, but I want to be sure that nothing out of the ordinary happens with the Runner while I'm gone." Yusei said.

"Fair enough..." I muttered, making my way back down and taking Yusei's spot at the computer. Jack was sleeping on a chair, which was expected, since he'd probably been working on the Runner for quite some time. Crow had to go out and do a delivery, so it was just me in the garage now.

I heard the door open once more. "Excuse me, is anyone in here?" a voice called out.

I peered up from the computer screen. "Yeah, hi." I said, looking over at the man. He had formal clothing on and a thick mustache which exceeded past his mouth.

"I was told that this would be where I could find Yusei Fudo. Is he here at the moment?" the man asked.

"He's uh… he's doing something at the moment." I said. "But I'd be happy to pass along a message to him, if you'd like."

"Yes... well... err... uhh..." the man stammered. "We've got a piece of equipment at Duel Academy, a Heitmann, which is starting to break down and become a bit unreliable. I was wondering if Yusei would be able to fix it..."

"Yeah!" I smiled. "I'm sure he'd be willing to help you. I'll pass on the message. What time would you want him to come by?" I asked.

"At about nine o'clock, please." the man said.

"I'm sure that won't be a problem." I smiled.

The man nodded. "Thank you very much!" the man bowed before leaving, Yusei returning a few moments later.

"Hey, I thought I heard you talking to someone. What's going on?" Yusei asked.

"Uh, someone from Duel Academy was after you. He wants you to come in tomorrow around nine to fix some broken machinery." I explained.

"Okay, it's done. I'll head down at nine." Yusei nodded. "And thanks for watching over the stuff for me. It means a lot."

"Not a problem." I looked down from the computer to my feet. "Listen, Yusei. There's another reason why I came to see you guys." I said, turning to face Yusei. "I want to apologize. See, the truth is… I've been avoiding you… I mean, you could probably tell considering the amount of times that we've spoken since defeating the Dark Signers. It's just that... I've had a lot on my mind since then, and the last thing I wanted was to bum you guys out with my problems. I wanted to be… good when I saw you guys again..."

Yusei sighed, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to me. "Tyler, you don't need to apologize, and you don't need to be embarrassed either. I mean, I knew where you were living for the past six months, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I visited you. Look, with this whole Ghost thing, I can't say that everything is back to normal, but we're all still friends. Even though we haven't spoken to each other that much, we're still friends."

"Well, I…" I stopped, turning away from Yusei as he smiled at me. "I was wondering if I could go with you to Duel Academy tomorrow, like, to watch you work, or help. I'd be happy to help if you need an extra pair of hands."

Yusei kept smiling. "Sure, I'd like that. I'll come by your apartment in the morning and then we can go there together."

"Awesome, thanks Yusei." I smiled, pulling out my phone and seeing it was now late, at least by my standards of being out. "I'd better get goin'. See ya tomorrow, Yusei!" I waved.

"Bye, Tyler." I heard Yusei call out as I left the garage and got onto my Duel Runner. I connected my phone to the dock and brought up Taze's contact, before calling his number as I sped off. I couldn't leave things how they were with Taze. It felt wrong. The phone rang a couple of times before immediately going to his voicemail.

I sighed.

* * *

"So have you ever been to Duel Academy?" I asked.

"I've gone past it, but I've never actually gone onto the campus before, so we'll need to drop by the Administration Office first." Yusei explained. I nodded.

The two of us rode together through the streets of New Domino City. There was lots of traffic on the road, which I expected considering how early we were. Everyone else was obviously on their way to work or whatever, so it was a little bit slow. We had plenty of time to get there though, so I wasn't worried.

I called Taze again just before Yusei had come and got me, but I wasn't able to reach him, which was a real shame.

Unlike Yusei, I'd never even seen the Duel Academy before, so I was… intrigued as to what it was like building-wise. Despite it being just after eight o'clock, the sky was a nice clear blue, with only a few clouds in the sky, which slowly moved apart as sunlight broke through.

Just as it occurred to me that I had forgotten to take my medication, we pulled up onto the campus.

Most of the buildings on campus seemed to be those of standard New Domino fanfare, but the central building was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was like two Duel Disks cut in half and, like, a hilt protruding from the ground.

Man, I really needed my meds…

"Alright, we'll head to Administration and see if we can find out where this Heitmann thing that's playing up is."

"Right behind you, Yusei."

* * *

One of the ladies at Admin had this really bitchy aura about her. She actually laughed in our faces when Yusei said that we were there to fix the Heitmann, which I didn't like. At least she told us the classroom where we could find the Heitmann, and gave us passes so we could get into the main building. I was able to get a map of the school on my phone too, which we would've gotten lost without otherwise.

"So room G13." I told Yusei. We kept walking down the otherwise empty hall, Yusei carrying a toolbox in his left hand. We actually stopped just outside the room because we could hear a man yelling in there. "Uh... Should we go in? Or wait 'til he's done?" I asked.

At the sound of a young woman's reply, Yusei's eyes widened, and he began walking in, so of course, I followed. "What's wrong, Akiza?" he asked. I could feel my throat dry up as the attention of everyone in the room moved to Yusei. This being the first time in a long while that I had seen Akiza, I felt taken aback all over again just looking at her.

"You're… Yusei Fudo! The one who won the Fortune Cup!" the man at the front of the class shouted. This guy wore a red suit with a green tie, had weird hair with a matching goatee, and a needle-thin moustache. Some of the kids in the class started cheering as the man continued. "What could you possibly need from our fine academic establishment?"

"We came here on a job." Yusei explained, moving to the side as I came into view.

"And who might _you_ be?"

"Trades Assistant." I said, pointing to Yusei.

"We were asked to come here and fix a piece of machinery that's been playing up."

The man shook his head. "No, there's no machinery in this room that needs to be fixed, but if you're looking for things that have been playing up, you can look at the children in this class. Although, fixing these children's grades would prove to be impossible, I assure you."

"Mister Vice Principal, your words are going too far!" a woman shouted. I just then noticed a woman to the side of the room, probably in her mid-twenties, wearing an orange blazer. I then assumed the woman beside us was the teacher and this guy was, as she said, the vice principal.

Akiza turned back to the man. "What kind of person are you, to deny these kids an education, to discard their passion to study solely because they mightn't have good grades?"

"It's a shame you fail to understand, Akiza..." He muttered. "No matter how hard these children try to study Dueling, they fail! So it's entirely pointless! _They're_ entirely pointless!" The man snapped his wrist forward as a holographic screen appeared in front of us, sifting through the profiles of some students and the cards in their decks. "As you can see, the only cards that these students possess are useless, low-level ones."

"There's no such thing as useless cards." Yusei stated. "Everything in this world has meaning, has purpose."

"How about the both of you quieten down and stop sticking your noses in where they don't belong."

I brought my hands up in defense. "Dude, come on, chill. I haven't done anything. I'm just here to help fix a Heitmann."

"The only 'Heitmann' this school has is _me_! _Rudolph_ _Heitmann_! What do you think you're playing at?"

"I don't know…!" I brought my hands down to my pockets as I tried searching for my meds, only to once again remember I didn't have them on me.

"He's trying to expel us!" Leo shouted.

"Please do something!" Patty urged.

Yusei smiled, turning back to me. "Now this makes sense."

"What does?" I asked.

"This is what we were asked to fix. I wasn't called here to help out with tools. I was called here to Duel Heitmann." Yusei said.

Now it was my turn to smile. "Dueling this guy would be a waste of your time, Yusei. Let me." I insisted.

"Excuse me?" Heitmann asked.

"How 'bout it? I never even went here… I think… So I must be at a much lower level than the kids here. If I win, these kids stay."

"You think you can just come in and start making demands?"

"You don't want to Duel me? A vice principal at Duel Academy is afraid of Dueling…"

"Enough!" Heitmann slammed his hand down on the desk, his eyes focusing on mine and mine alone. "If you're in such a hurry to make a fool of yourself, meet me in the gymnasium in ten minutes. We'll Duel there."

* * *

Heitmann and I stood opposite each other in the gymnasium, in amongst a white chalk outline of a Duel Field. Yusei, Leo, Luna and the rest of the class sat above in the stands, watching below.

"With my Vanguard Deck, I'll make short work of you. I promise." Heitmann laughed.

"Duel!"

[Tyler: 4000 LP]  
[Heitmann: 4000 LP]

"Save our class, Tyler!" Bob shouted.

"We're rooting for you!" Patty added as I drew my card.

I looked over the cards I had in my hand silently. "I… Set a monster in Defense Position…" I said, placing one of my cards, Mucus Yolk, face-down on my Duel Disk as it was the only monster that I had in my hand. "And I think… I'll also place two other cards face-down too. Your turn."

"This might be even easier than I thought!" Heitmann taunted. "Let's see how useful your monster is in Attack Position! I activate Stop Defense, switching your monster from Defense to Attack!" Heitmann laughed as a ray shot out of his card and illuminated my monster, a pulsing dark red blob [ATK: 0].

"Oh no!" Luna shouted.

"Next, I summon Ancient Gear Statue to the field!" Heitmann added as a mess of cogs and gears took form on his field. [ATK: 500]. "In addition, I shall activate the Spell Card Machine Duplication, allowing me to summon two more Ancient Gear Statues from my deck!"

"I don't think Heitmann's stopping there!" Leo wavered.

"Of course not! I activate the special ability of my Statues. By sacrificing them, I can Special Summon three Ancient Gear Golems from my hand!"

Everyone gasped as the three Statues disappeared and were replaced by three titanic monstrosities that literally towered over the field. [ATK: 3000]

"Yeah, my card won't do very well in Attack Position, will it…?" I said softly. "But before you do anything, I wanna play this! Skill Drain! So I can negate the abilities of your monsters!"

[Tyler: 3000 LP]

As my card rose up, yellow light came down onto the field, covering Heitmann's three monsters.

"Are you serious?!" Heitmann twitched. "_That's_ what you had? Then consider those kids expelled!" Heitmann flung his hand forward. "Golem number one, attack Mucus Yolk!"

"Wait…" I smiled. "I activate Mirror Force, which kills all the Golems since they're in Attack Position." I pressed a button on my Duel Disk as Mirror Force rose up, a barrier appearing around me as Heitmann's first Ancient Gear Golem hit the barrier, bounced back and collided with the other two, causing them all to be destroyed.

"In that case," Heitmann growled. "I end my turn with a face-down."

I smiled as I drew my card. "I activate Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of that card you've got there." A fierce cyclone whipped up, blowing Heitmann's Set card away. "And then I activate… Oh, wait! I've got _two_ things I can do… Uh… I play Monster Reborn to revive the first Ancient Gear Golem that I killed last turn." the familiar cogged monster once again appeared on my side of the field. [ATK: 3000] "And then I activate this. It's a card called Cosmic Astral Code, and it allows me to Summon a monster from my Extra Deck without needing to fulfill any Summoning conditions. Oh, but the monster only stays on the field until the End Phase. Then it goes to the Graveyard. Now, I don't have a phrase or a chant or anything ready, so I'm just gonna go ahead and play Hyper Psychic Blaster in Attack Position."

A light broke in from behind me as the mechanized gun-wielding Psychic monster, my first Synchro, appeared in front of me, guns poised. [ATK: 3000]

"The total attack power of Tyler's monsters… Six thousand. If he attacks now, he'll win..." Akiza murmured.

"And _we_ don't get expelled!" Leo shouted. "C'mon, Tyler! You can do it!"

I smiled. "Okay, first I'm gonna att-" I paused as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I looked down at my pocket as I took my phone out with my free hand.

"What are you doing?!" Heitmann shouted.

"Hey, can you chill out for a second?" Even though we were in the middle of a Duel, I decided there wasn't any harm in taking a moment to check my phone.

I smiled. A message from Taze. Probably an apology. I opened the message and began reading it to myself.

_I've been thinking about this for some time. You're just not the same person and what we're doing isn't working out. The band is over, I quit._

I thought that was it, but there was more to the message. I scrolled down.

_I'm sorry. I just can't be around you. Not when you're how you are. I've been lying to myself, pretending that you were the same person before your accident because I hoped that it would be true. But you've changed, and honestly I hate the person you've become._

My heart was in my throat, but there was still more to the message. I scrolled down again, my movements shaky.

_All this talk about Duel Spirits that apparently you can see and talk to, if you truly believe that, then I think you need to be committed to an institution, or at least stop taking those fucking pills._

_We can't hang out anymore. I hope you understand why. We're just two different people, and that's not my fault. It's yours. I shouldn't have to explain why, and I won't, because you know why. You just won't face up to it._

_Anyway, that's all I'm going to say. Best of luck being a fucking weirdo._

Even though they were just words on a screen, I could hear him say those words to me as if he were standing right next to me, telling me straight to my face, venom in every word, every sentence. Perhaps that's why that made it so powerfully poignant with me, and why I did what I did next.

"Attack directly…" Both able monsters complied as Heitmann was struck down.

[Heitmann: 0 LP]

I didn't bother sticking around. As soon as Heitmann's Life Points fell to zero, I had already headed out the gymnasium doors, making a beeline for the school parking lot. Someone had called out to me, but I couldn't tell who. I didn't even care really.

I discarded my pass as I got on my Runner, pulling away from the Duel Academy campus in silence.

* * *

The weather seemed to change quickly, and also rather befittingly. By the time I had returned to my apartment, the sky had turned from a light blue into a dull and depressing gray. I sighed, placing my deck box onto the table as I kicked off my shoes.

I could feel my forehead throbbing and my chest aching. An uneasy sensation in my throat. A pain as I worked through each breath. To put it bluntly, I felt like shit.

I was done with the day. I just wanted to sleep so that tomorrow would come quicker, and I could pretend that what had happened today really didn't. I could forget about Taze, and move on. I knew it was pointless and stupid to think like that, but I just didn't want to be awake and have to deal with myself and how I was feeling. I had managed to save everyone from the burden of dealing with me, now all that was left was saving myself.

I ripped a sheet from my bed as I brought myself down onto it with a thud. Whipping and wrapping the sheet back around me, I curled myself into a semi-comfortable sleeping position, slowly bringing my legs down as my body warmed the bed.

I couldn't help but wonder if it was all my fault. I should've seen the signs, plain and simple, so obviously I was to blame, leading Taze on and all that. I was doing it for him in the end, not for me. Maybe I should've been straight with him from the start, and then I wouldn't feel like I wasted the last six months of my life on an aimless 'friendship'.

And then there was still everyone else. Yusei, Crow, Jack... Akiza, Leo, Luna... Were they the same? Did they not want anything to do with me either? Was Taze the only one who was man enough to tell me the truth?

I sighed, turning over several times in the span of a couple minutes. There was no way that I'd be able to get to sleep with all these thoughts running through my head.

I suddenly had the realization that I probably ruined everything at Duel Academy as well. The kids needed me, and I abandoned them by running away. I hoped that Yusei had been able to convince Heitmann to withdraw the expulsions, but there was a part of me that either knew or thought, wrongly or rightly, that he wouldn't be successful.

I should have just let Yusei Duel…

I turned over again, exhaling sharply as I pressed my face hard against my pillow. The side was already warm. I sighed, jerking upwards as I flipped the pillow and rested my head against that side. It was cool, but not for long.

The sound of a light knock at my door caused me to sigh, as I honestly couldn't be bothered getting up and answering it. Whoever it was at my door waited for a few seconds, as if pondering something, before knocking again, a little louder this time. "Tyler, it's me, Luna. Are you there?" her voice called from behind the door, her tone seeming uncertain.

Part of me just wanted to stay quiet and hope she'd think I wasn't home, since I wasn't really in the mood to talk to anybody. The other part of me opened my mouth.

"Yeah... I'm here..." I quietly replied.

"I... I was just wondering if you were alright... Would you mind if we could talk for a bit?" she asked.

I cleared my throat. "I'm fine, Luna..." I muttered, though I'm sure by the tone of my voice, she could tell that I was anything but.

There was a long pause as silence once again filled the air. I thought that Luna may have given up and decided to leave me to my own devices, but she didn't. Just when I thought I was alone, she piped up again. "Tyler, I... I'm your friend, and I want to help you, but I can't help if you don't let me in..!"

"Fine..." I grumbled. "The door's unlocked, you can come in… If you want..."

I heard the handle rattle just a little as Luna slowly opened the door to my apartment. She took slow, small steps as she made her way inside, closing the door behind her.

I swallowed, closing my eyes as I exhaled. Once I opened them, I shuffled around on the bed, now lying on my side beneath the covers.

"Oh, I...! I didn't wake you up, did I?" Luna asked as she saw me shuffle about.

"No..." I replied with minimal enthusiasm.

"Tyler, if something is wrong, you can talk to me." Luna insisted. "Don't you remember that?"

"Nothing's wrong... I'm... I'm fine..." I repeated.

"You're lying." Luna said. It was weird. It almost sounded cold, her tone of voice. She gasped and cleared her throat. "I-I mean... I can tell something is wrong..." she muttered, her tone now much softer.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, rolling over to look at her face to face. "Something came up..."

"Is there something that I can do to help? Because if I can help you, I will!"

"It's nothing, I... I just had to leave... If I didn't, then I..."

I stopped. I wasn't just about to say what I thought I was… _was I?_ I thought I'd moved past all that…No. I _had_ moved past that… so why was I even about to-

"Then you'd what?" Luna asked softly.

I knew what she was doing, trying to tear down the wall, get me to open up. But I couldn't, and I wouldn't. "Look, I'm sorry I left like that..." I muttered. "Do you know what happened? With your class, I mean…"

Luna nodded. "Yep. Heitmann withdrew the expulsions. Thanks to you, our class was saved."

"That's good. At least _that_ ended up okay then…"

"So something _is_ wrong... Look, I get that we haven't really seen each other in a while, but I'm still your friend... And I want to help you get through whatever is wrong."

"Friend..." I muttered, rolling my eyes, but thankfully she couldn't see. After everything that had just happened, she was trying to pull the friendship crap! Was this some subtle way of trying to make me feel guilty for not really talking to her, or Yusei or anyone else for the past few months?!

"It doesn't matter _what_ I do?! Does it?!" I shouted, turning to her. "Someone, somewhere has got a problem with it, with me! No matter what I do, it's my fault!"

"Tyler-"

"Once you realize that I'm not what you want, you'll leave!" I snapped.

"It's not that I have a problem with it...! I'd never leave you either! It's just that I see you suffering and it hurts me...! You've protected me so much, but no matter what I do, I just can't protect you in return! The only thing that I _can_ do is try and help you through it...!"

It was that same pleading voice that brought me back to that cold morning six months ago. As I stood on the ledge ready to throw it all away, I regretted making the phone call. Even now, I wonder why I called, but there was no point in me thinking about what I did now, only what happened after.

Luna was the one who calmed me down, who made me see sense, and now I was stupidly driving her away again!

Luna wasn't trying to tear my wall down, she was trying to find another way in... And I had to let her...

"Alright, fine." I sighed. Strangely enough, it took almost all of my willpower to tell Luna what was going on with me. I guess I was afraid that she wouldn't take what I said seriously, or that she wouldn't even care at all. "Taze and I... It's over... He sent me a message during the Duel. He says that I'm not the same person and he doesn't want me around anymore..."

The moment I told her this, a shocked expression appeared on her face. I regretted telling her immediately. Granted, she'd never met Taze before. In fact it was probably one of the first times that I had ever spoken to Luna about him. But from anyone else listening in, was it really appropriate for me to be crying about not being friends with someone anymore? Probably not. So Luna probably thought that I was _majorly_ overreacting.

"I... Tyler, I..." she stammered. She then opened and closed her mouth several times, though no sound came out.

I turned away from Luna to face the wall. "That's why I ran, Luna, okay? Because I was afraid. Afraid I'd make a complete... fool of myself..." I tittered. "And look at what happened..."

I stayed in silence for a minute or so after that, my heart pounding relentlessly. I hated it. I hated myself. I closed my eyes, tensing every part of my body in anger until I felt a pair of arms come in between mine. I opened my eyes to find that Luna had wrapped her arms around me, pressing her head into my chest as her body rested against mine.

Luna looked up at me and smiled. "It'll be okay. You don't need him. I still want you around... Leo still wants you around. Every one of our friends wants you around. If... If Taze can't accept who you are, then... then that's his problem...! I think you're great just the way you are, no matter what he says...!"

I felt myself beginning to smile as I looked down at Luna, before hugging her back with no hesitation.

"Thanks, Luna..."


	4. Heart-Shaped Box

"Next, please." the counter lady called.

My eyes widened, shifting from my phone to the young woman in front of me. I approached cautiously, my heart racing unnecessarily. "Yeah, can I get some chocolate, please?"

"Sweetheart, this is the Gambit Retro Chocolate Factory, of _course_ you can get chocolate here…" she said in an overly patronizing tone. Some of the people in line behind me started laughing and snickering, but I paid them no mind.

"Right, sorry…" I smiled before sighing. "I'm looking to get something for a friend, and I've never really done this before, so what would you recommend?"

"That depends..." she said.

"On what?"

"How much you're willing to pay, and who it's for."

"I'm willing to pay as much as I need to for her, so can-"

"So it's a girl..." the woman interrupted, smiling.

"Yes, it's for a girl… To say thank you..."

"Alright..." she turned and took a box off of the shelf behind her, before turning back to me. "What about something like this?"

I inspected the item the woman was holding. It was a very nice looking dark red heart-shaped box, images of gold-lined roses indented into the front of the box. "In the box, there's a mix of milks, darks, and whites. Some have fillings, some have nuts, some are plain."

I looked down, fetching my wallet from my pocket before looking back to face the woman as I smiled. "I'll take it."

* * *

I shifted the bag around in my hand, curling and uncurling my fingers against it. A few moments later, the elevator doors in front of me finally opened.

I walked in slowly, the sound of 'Daybreak' by Michael Haggins coming through the small speakers at the top. I turned, pressing on the buttons to get me to the top floor as the doors closed.

I could feel everything changing beneath my feet, so I shifted my weight between my two legs as I looked up at the ceiling.

After everything that Luna had done for me, I had to get her something at the very least as a thank you gift and to show my appreciation. If it hadn't have been for her, I'd probably be wallowing in self-pity. Or worse, and more likely, dead.

I was really lucky to have someone like her looking out for me. I mean, Yusei and everyone else were supportive as well, and I definitely appreciated that, but Luna was just…

_"I think you're great just the way you are...!"_

She was the best.

The elevator doors opened, and I began walking over to entrance to Leo and Luna's apartment. Once I reached the door, I took out my phone, realizing that the two would still be at school. From buying the chocolate, to writing the thank you card, to wrapping it all up… I thought it would take more time than it did.

I didn't want to just leave it out the front of their place. It wouldn't have been right. It was just something that I had to give to her in person.

I sighed, sitting down on the floor of the complex as the bag rested loosely in my hands. I put my earphones in and sat back against the wall as I simply waited for time to pass.

* * *

I might have dozed off for a little bit listening to Queensÿrche's 'Jet City Woman' on repeat, because before I realized it, I could hear muffled chatter break through my earphones.

My eyes widened as I breathed in suddenly, clutching the bag in my hands tightly as I looked over to see Leo and Luna lugging their school bags behind them, heavily engrossed in conversation.

I then noticed that their friends from school were with them, and my heartbeat increased. It was probably selfish of me, but I was really hoping that it would just be the twins, just on the off-chance I managed to make an idiot of myself again in front of those other kids. After all, they barely knew me, and probably assumed from my little performance yesterday that I was, to put it as nice as I could, _not_ a people person. I didn't really want to have them judging me if I could avoid it.

Of course, there was really nothing I _could_ do to avoid it now. So I realized the best thing that I could do was at least make a good second impression. I got to my feet as I straightened myself up, my fingers moving along the bag as I took my earphones out with my free hand.

"I made him laugh so hard, that the Chocolate Milk came out his nose! And it was _pink_!" Bob boasted.

"Ew! Gross!" Patty exclaimed. I stood silently as Leo laughed, before I noticed Patty's eyes look to the direction of the apartment. "Hey, isn't there someone at your door?" She asked.

The twins looked towards their apartment, towards me. "Oh, yeah! That's Tyler!" Leo exclaimed upon noticing me.

"You mean the guy from yesterday?" Bob asked. My heart sank.

"The guy who totally beat down Heitmann and then just left?" Dexter added. My heart skipped a beat and I turned away.

"Yeah, that's the guy!" Leo shouted.

I turned back. The way that Leo spoke, his tone of voice, it was as if the fact that I practically abandoned them didn't bother him in the slightest. I would have even gone so far as to say that Leo seemed impressed with how I Dueled Heitmann. Even so, just because Leo didn't care... That didn't mean that I was off the hook, after all, those kids probably still cared. Hell, Luna must've been torn up about it just a little bit as well.

But that was why I was there after all. To make amends.

"Guys, enough of that..! Tyler obviously came here for a reason, not to listen to you guys gossip about him..." Luna sighed.

"Yeah! He probably came to help out with homework!" Leo grinned.

Luna's eyes met mine, her cheeks reddening slightly as I swallowed. I wanted to say something, but once again, I couldn't, simply out of fear of screwing up this simple little meet up.

I knew what I wanted to say! I knew _exactly_ what I wanted to say! I'd practically _rehearsed_ it for fear of screwing up!

"Hey, um… guys? Do you mind if we talk to Tyler alone? We haven't really properly spoken to him in a while and there's so much we need to talk about..." Luna stated.

Suddenly, all of the tension just left. I guess I realized how silly it was to be caught like that, to be overthinking something as critically as I was. My thoughts, my words, it all just began to flow much better. "You guys don't need to leave..." I interjected, walking over to the group.

"O-oh, if you're sure about it..." Luna mumbled.

I smiled warmly, my hand moving into the bag, retrieving the box of chocolates I had bought, along with an envelope. "This is for you..." I said, extending my hand out to Luna.

"F-For me? Um, I..." Luna trailed off, her face heating up. "What's this for...?" she asked softly, seemingly hesitant to take what I was offering her.

"Well you really helped me out yesterday, and... I know that I barely show you how much I appreciate you, so I wanted to get you something just to say 'thank you'." I paused just as I remembered that Leo, Patty, Dexter and Bob were standing behind Luna, and that I probably embarrassed her with what I said, so I refrained from saying anything else too sappy. "I... wasn't sure what to get you, so I just got you a mix. There's a card there too... In the envelope... which basically says what I just did... You know, about me being thankful and stuff…"

Luna stood motionless for a few seconds before taking the box, color still flooding her face. "O-oh, Tyler, you didn't have to do this!" Luna wavered. "We're friends and… I like talking to you, so it wasn't any trouble or anything!" She insisted. "Wait, what I mean is-"

"It's okay, Luna. I know what you mean, but... I just, I do appreciate it..." I smiled.

Patty nudged Luna on the arm, who simply fidgeted in response. I looked down at my pants pockets as I heard Patty whisper something to Luna, whose eyes widened in response as she turned back to her. Luna turned towards me a couple of seconds later.

"Well... Thanks again, Tyler..." Luna smiled, the color slowly leaving her face. "Here, why don't you guys come inside so we can put our stuff away?" Luna suggested. The others nodded as they rushed inside. Leo grunted as he made his way into his apartment. Luna made her way inside too, but I stood outside, checking my phone for the time.

My psychiatrist's office would still be open for another hour or so.

Luna came out a couple of seconds later to meet me, now bag-less. "Um... Are you gonna come in...?"

"Oh, I... um... I can't..." I admitted. "I wish I could, but I've actually just remembered… I've got something else I need to go and take care of..."

"Aw, _really_?! I was hoping we could all Duel!" Leo shouted, his head popping out from behind the door.

"Leo, calm down. Tyler has other plans. I'm sure we'll see him later." Luna said, turning to him.

"You can count on that." I smiled as I turned to Leo.

Leo sighed, popping back inside to leave Luna and I alone.

"Um... Thanks..." Luna mumbled.

I smiled.

"No problem."

* * *

It took me more time to get to my psychiatrist's office than I had planned. Some people were coming home early from work and so it was really hectic on the road. I hadn't booked an appointment, and he didn't know I'd be coming. Now that I think about it, I probably could have entered his office more gracefully, because when I got there, I basically stumbled past everyone and charged on in.

"Tyler, what are you doing her-"

"I lied."

"What?"

"Everything I said to you, about me being happy how things were. That was a lie. I'm not happy, okay? I'm not. I lied because I thought if I said it enough, then I'd start thinking I was happy... But I can't lie to you anymore. I can't lie to myself anymore."

"What happened?"

"Two days ago, Taze and I had a fallout, and I met up with Yusei and the others, and everyone else that I had been avoiding. I wasn't prepared for any of that, but I figured that it was for the best and that it was time that I stopped avoiding them and face them like you suggested. So the next day, Yusei and I go to Duel Academy to fix something, but it turns out that I'm supposed to Duel this guy who's gonna expel these kids, and then Taze… He texts me and he goes 'We can't hang out anymore! We're not friends! Best of luck being a weirdo!' and… it was the pills… he said it was the pills…" I felt tears form in my eyes and quickly run down my face. "And now I'm crying! _Fuck_!" I shouted, turning away from my psychiatrist. "Please, I've already lost Taze. I don't want to lose anyone else… You have to help me… Please… I want to get off my meds…"

I must've looked pretty pathetic to him, all but bawling my eyes out. He didn't say anything though. He just sat in his chair, a hand covering his mouth as he silently observed me. The way he looked at me, as my diaphragm was going a mile a minute, it was as if he was staring into my soul.

Finally, he spoke.

"Tyler, I... I can't just take you off your medication suddenly. That wouldn't be healthy _or_ safe for you. But... I can see that you're concerned about this. So what I'm going to do is recommend that you halve your dosage, for a week starting tomorrow, just as a temporary thing, and we'll take things from there, okay? I'll check back on you in about a week, and we'll see how you are."

"Thank you!" I breathed.

"But, Tyler… There's nothing to gain by lying to me. I'm here to help you, and if you lie to me, I can't do that. Do you understand?"

"…I do."

"Okay. Also, it would be good if you could call first to organize an appointment. I was actually a few minutes away from heading home, and I'd hate for you to get down here and me not be here."

"Yes, definitely." I nodded. "…And, um..." I took my wallet out again, sifting through it before handing some money over to my psychiatrist. "That's for the other day."

"Thank you." He smiled. "How about I pencil you in for next Thursday at ten o'clock?"

"That would be great."

"Alright, well... I'll see you then..."


	5. No More Mr Nice Guy

I stood behind the cleaner as he looked into my shower. "Yeah, you're gonna have to wait for the grout to dry." The man said before turning back to me.

"How am I supposed to use the shower?" I asked.

"Well… You can't… It'll wet the tiles. You'll just have to shower someplace else. Look, we'll be back in a week, and we'll have it fixed for you then. I'm sorry, that's all we can do right now."

"Fine..." I sighed dejectedly as I showed the man out of my apartment, shutting the door behind him. I put the quotation on my drawer and sighed once more.

Since parting ways with Taze, I had taken some time to get my place back in order. I changed the lock on the front door and got myself a new set of keys, as I had actually given Taze a spare set a few months prior. I'd also developed a habit of leaving my door unlocked, which I had since realized was not at all ideal. So I had changed the locks, gotten new keys, and was now locking my apartment at every chance I got.

But then there was a problem with my shower.

Apparently there was a leak in the pipes or something. I wasn't really paying attention to what the man had told me, but the long and the short of it was I couldn't use my shower for about a week, which was a shame.

The only place I could go which had a shower and was also close, was Yusei's. Now, I hadn't seen him since I visited Duel Academy with him, and I wasn't sure if he even wanted to see me, but I couldn't go a week without showering. And I couldn't go a week without avoiding anyone. I didn't _want_ to go a week where I _had_ to avoid anyone.

I grabbed my set of keys, along with my phone and a towel, and a spare change of clothes, as I started locking up.

* * *

I had a much better feeling in me when I pulled up outside the garage. I looked in and noticed that Yusei seemed to be packing a few of his things away. Jack's Duel Runner was now covered by a white sheet, and Crow was nowhere to be found.

I cautiously knocked on the top of the door as Yusei turned to me. "Hi, look, I know that I'm probably the last person that you want to see right now, but I can't use my shower for, like, a week. Would I be able to use yours?"

Yusei kept his eyes on mine. "You're not the last person I'd want to see. I was concerned when you left Duel Academy like that the other week, but I had to stay and convince Heitmann to withdraw the expulsions. Luna said she'd go and see you afterward. She told me that you were having problems with another friend of yours… I'm sorry to hear that."

"Nah, it's okay. That's all over now." I said, looking to the bag that Yusei had packed. "So what are you doing with the bag?" I asked.

"I'm actually going back to the Satellite for a little while. I haven't seen Rally or the others in a really long time." Yusei said. "But yeah, just go upstairs and ask Zora about the shower. She'll let you use it."

"Cool, thanks." I nodded, making my way up the steps and out the door. Trash bags were heaped against the wall as the one bin resting against Zora's place was already filled to the top with garbage. I sighed, walking over to the side door and knocking on it. A few moments later, the door opened.

"Sorry to drop by like this, but um, would it be alright if I used your shower for a few days? Something's happening with a pipe, or grout or something at my place, so I can't use mine."

Zora smiled at me, opening the door. "Of course you can use it. Come in, I'll show you where it is."

"Thank you." I bowed, following Zora inside as she led me to her bathroom.

"I see you have everything you need with you. There's shampoo, conditioner and everything else on the inside of the shower. I'll leave you to it."

"Thanks again." I smiled. Zora smiled back and shut the door behind her as she left.

* * *

"So is Crow out doing deliveries or something?" I asked, reappearing behind Zora in a fresh change of clothes. Zora turned to face me, pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Yes. He'll be out for the whole day today." she explained. "Yusei's going back to the Satellite too, but he'll be gone for a week, maybe more."

"Ah!" I smiled. "Well if you need help looking after the garage or anything, I'd be happy to help. Like, not that I want to impose or anything, but so that, like, you don't need to keep going backwards and forwards and keep checking on everything, you know what I mean?"

"That would be great, actually. I still have to look after the shop and everything, so that would be a big help."

"Awesome, okay. Well, I'll go back downstairs then."

"Wait, before you do," Zora began. "Can I get you anything to eat?"

I shook my head. "No thank you. I'm fine, but I appreciate you offering."

"Alright, well if you need anything, just come up and see me."

"Cool." I smiled, leaving Zora's place and heading back down the steps into the garage. Yusei was nowhere to be seen, and neither was his Duel Runner. What perplexed me a little, was that both his laptop and deck were left on the table and by the window respectively, his Stardust Dragon facing upward. I went up the steps again and into Zora's place. "Hey, um, Zora… Yusei left his deck in the garage. Should anything be done about that?"

"Oh, no, don't worry. Crow will be using some of those cards when he comes home tonight. He'll be working on Jack's Duel Runner… _again_…" Zora muttered.

"Okay." I nodded. I could tell by Zora's tone that she was less than thrilled that Crow would be working on Jack's Duel Runner, but I didn't say anything else. I just went back down into the garage, pulled up a seat and sat down at the table.

* * *

I spent the majority of my time watching YouTube videos and keeping Facebook open in a separate tab on Yusei's laptop. Occasionally, someone would come by and request Yusei's help, and I'd tell whoever it was that he was out at the moment, but I'd take down their details and put them into a document so that when Yusei came back, he could look through it, if he wanted to.

I also had this strange feeling that I was being watched, all throughout the morning and into the afternoon. At one point, I could've sworn that someone was staring at me from just outside the garage looking in.

I turned down the volume on the laptop and looked to the window, a shadow shifting behind it. I got up from my seat, walking briskly over to the window, but there was no one out there.

I sighed, walking back over to the table and sitting down in my seat.

"Yusei! Yusei!" Leo shouted, bursting through the door beside me in his Duel Academy uniform, his bag slung over his back.

"Leo, what's wrong?" I asked, a little bit unnerved from the sudden burst of sound that came with Leo's entrance.

"Where's Yusei?!"

"He's gone to the Satellite. He should be back in a week or so."

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" Leo shouted, stamping his feet on the ground.

"What's the matter?"

"I need him to help me with my homework! Akiza's busy with other study, and Luna's already handed her work in, so I can't look at her sheet for the answers. It's due tomorrow and I'm gonna be in big trouble if I don't hand it in! Wait, unless…" Leo trailed off, looking towards me.

"What...?"

"You'll help me, right Tyler?" he almost pleaded. "Please, please, _please_…!" he begged.

A smile broke onto my face as I chuckled. "Yeah, sure."

"Awesome!" Leo shouted, dumping his backpack onto the floor as he fished out his homework along with his pencil case, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to me. "Okay, so this is a take home quiz, uh… Most of it's multiple choice, but there are some short answer questions as well."

"You haven't attempted _any_ of the questions…" I noted.

Leo scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeah… Usually I just copy off Luna's work when she starts cooking dinner, but she gave it in to Miss Bartlet yesterday."

"Does Luna know you copy off her?"

"N-no… She doesn't… And please don't tell her either…" Leo mumbled.

"I... um…" I stopped. It wasn't that I was going to tell Luna, but I just didn't feel comfortable knowing that Leo was copying off her work without her knowing. I probably shouldn't have asked in the first place…

"Hey…" a voice sounded. I knew whose voice it was straight away, but I didn't react. The fact that they were even near me again sent chills down my spine.

"Who are you?" Leo asked.

I turned. "Taze…" I muttered, quickly getting to my feet. "How did you know I was here?" I asked bluntly, walking to him as he kept to the outside of the garage.

"You, um… You checked in on Facebook…" he muttered.

"Damn it…" I looked back to Yusei's laptop, making a mental note to unfriend Taze and then go over my privacy settings. "Well why are you here?"

"I feel like we left things in a really awkward place."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah… _I_ said some things, _you_ said some things, and I think that-"

I scoffed. "Really? _I_ said some things? What did _I_ say to you?" Taze stayed quiet for a long time, so I decided to answer for him. "I think you said _exactly_ what you wanted to say to me in that text message, but the things that… I really want to say to you… I can't say… Not here like this…" I made sure that Taze had his eyes on mine before continuing. "So I'll just say this: I'm glad that I got amnesia, 'cause it meant that I forgot about you. My only regret is going to Bootleg and seeing you again. You mean _nothing_ to me, Taze. And I hate, I _hate_ the fact that I thought you might have meant something to me before. All you've made me do is question what it was that I saw in you in the first place and make me hate myself for abandoning everyone else like I did."

Taze took a step back, the look on his face almost as if he was shocked by all that I had said. Finally though, he just shrugged. "Whatever… I'm outta here…" he muttered, walking away from the garage in silence. I watched him leave. He didn't look back once. When he was out of sight, I silently sat back down at the table before sighing.

"Tyler…" Leo muttered. "What was that about?"

I took my eyes off the paper I had focused on, looking to Leo, who I could easily tell had a look of concern on his face.

"Nothing." I assured him. "Now, let's look at question one…"

* * *

It didn't take us long to get through Leo's homework, but by the end of it, I was seriously confused as to what the point of some of the questions were. The short answer stuff was okay, but some of the multiple choice questions were absolutely ridiculous and had nothing to do with actually playing Duel Monsters, such as naming the animal being blown away in Heavy Storm's artwork.

Nevertheless, we completed the sheet, and I was ninety-nine percent sure all the answers were correct.

"I bet it feels good to have finished your homework… That's all you've got, isn't it?" I asked.

Leo nodded. "Yep. Thanks a bunch for helping me out with it." He grinned.

"Not a problem. Now, aside from the homework, how are you doing in class?"

"I'm doing okay. The theory's _really_ boring though!"

"Is Luna doing alright in class?"

"Yeah, Luna's doing fine. Surprisingly."

"What do you mean?"

"She keeps staring at Sly in class! It's totally weird! You saw how he was when he came over that time, right? Rude, arrogant, just an all 'round jerk! I don't want Luna hanging around him!" Leo protested. A smile must've formed on my face, because Leo groaned at me, puffing his cheeks before shouting at me. "Why are you smiling?!"

My eyes widened. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to. I think it's cool that you care about your sister. I mean, I can't really judge Sly since I only met him the once, but Luna's a smart kid. If Sly was bad news, I think she'd be the first to ditch him."

"Well _I_ don't like him…" Leo grumbled. "No one else does either…"

"So does that mean you and Luna don't hang out at school? Like, she'd go with Sly and you'd go with everyone else?"

"Well he wasn't at school today, so Luna hung out with Patty." Leo stated.

"Wait, Sly wasn't at school?" I asked.

"Nope."

I felt weird again. I turned to the window, focusing on it for a few seconds before getting up and walking over to it. I picked up Yusei's deck, it unfortunately taking me longer than it should have to notice something was wrong. Yusei's Nitro Warrior card looked back at me and I panicked.

I put Yusei's deck down, checking my immediate area. The shelf, the arbitrary milk crate, the floor, but it was nowhere to be found.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked, noticing my plight.

I jerked, sweat forming on my forehead. I hastily turned to Leo. "Um… I _may_ have misplaced Yusei's Stardust Dragon…"

"What do you mean 'misplaced'?!" Leo probed.

"Well, Yusei left his deck here, something to do with working on Jack's Duel Runner, and now Stardust is gone! It was on the top of the deck 'cause the deck was face-up and now it's just… gone!"

Leo's eyes widened as his mouth dropped open. "That's not good!"

"I know!"

"Well, it can't just have disappeared, right? Maybe you can sense its spirit!"

"Sense its spirit…?" I muttered.

"Yeah, like maybe Stardust Dragon is calling out to you. Maybe if we be _really_ quiet and just listen for it, Stardust Dragon can tell you where he is."

"Okay…" I shrugged. I closed my eyes and attempted to block out all other sounds, focusing only on, and attempting to hear the call of Yusei's Stardust Dragon.

"Hear anything?" Leo asked.

"Not yet…" I truthfully didn't have high hopes for my ability to be able to sense a card's whereabouts through its cries. The last time I had any extended interaction with a Duel Spirit was six months ago at Leo and Luna's penthouse, which didn't end well. Even so, it wasn't like I had much else to go on. I couldn't tell Zora and risk getting into trouble, and the same went with Jack and Crow. This was something that I had to do on my own.

I then remembered the figure standing outside the garage, the one who _had_ to have been staring at me.

"Sly…" I muttered.

"What?"

"I think he was here…"

"Huh?"

"Throughout the whole day, while I was down here, I felt as if someone was staring at me through the window there. When you said that Sly wasn't at school, it made me think that he might have…" I trailed off, shaking my head.

"Stolen Yusei's card?" Leo finished.

"No, that's silly. Sorry." I apologized. "I shouldn't. I can't think that he would just steal it. I probably just misplaced it, it's probably still here."

"It would be _totally_ just like Sly to steal Stardust Dragon! Remember how he spoke to Yusei? He probably thinks he doesn't deserve it!" Leo shouted. "Tyler, we gotta find him and get that card back!"

"Well, okay, let's say he did take it. Do you know where he lives? Or if he goes anywhere in the afternoon?"

Leo put a hand to his chin, before his eyes widened. "He'd probably go down to the old Duel Arena, being antisocial and all."

"You mean the one just across from Bootleg?"

"Yeah."

"That's like, a little way away from my apartment." I looked down at my shoes before facing Leo again. "Alright. I'll head over to the Duel Arena, but I'll take you home first. It's getting late. Luna's probably waiting for you."

"Huh?! No way! I'm coming with you!" Leo shouted.

"I'm not gonna be there long, Leo, so there's not really any point in you coming. And I wouldn't want you to stay out late and have Luna worrying about you."

"Nuh-uh!" Leo argued. "I _have_ to come! Besides, I've never ridden with you before! I'm not gonna do anything bad, I promise!"

"Oh, alright. Come on then." I sighed, motioning for him to follow me out to my Duel Runner as I got a spare helmet from inside the garage and locked the windows along with everything else.

* * *

I had only gone to the Underground Duel Arena a couple of times when I first moved into my apartment, and only then just to watch others Duel, but now with the Grand Prix and everything, I expected the place to be a little crowded and have people training for it or whatever, but there was actually barely anyone inside apart from a little crowd of people standing near an empty table.

"Man, you'd think that with the redesigning of the Daimon Area that this place would've been cleaned up a little. Look at all these cards." Leo said, bending down to take a card from a collection strewn across the floor.

"Yeah, the alcohol too..." I muttered, looking to the empty bottles resting on pretty much all the tables. The group of people that were there seemed to be drinking pretty heavily too. I turned to see a kid wearing the Duel Academy uniform standing near a table as he quietly sifted through his cards. "Hey, Leo. Isn't that one of your friends?" I asked.

Leo's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's Dexter! Hey! Dexter!" Leo shouted, running over to him. I followed at a healthy click.

"Oh, sup Leo?" Dexter greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Leo shouted.

"I came here 'cause Luna invited me. I just wanted to see a bunch of cool cards being played. But so far, nothing's really caught my eye. And I really want to feast my eyes on something cool…"

"Wait! _Luna's_ here? Where is she?"

"She's over there, talking with Sly." Dexter shrugged, pointing to the other side of the arena, where Luna and Sly were seated at a table. Luna was wearing her school uniform, while Sly was wearing just a black shirt with black shorts.

"No way! C'mon, Tyler!" Leo shouted, rushing over to the two as quick as he could, moving in amongst the crowd of other Duelists. I followed behind, moving around the group instead of going through them. "Hey! Sly!" Leo called.

"Leo, Tyler, what are you doing here?" Luna asked.

"I could ask you the same thing! Especially with _him_ of all people!" Leo groaned, eyeing Sly angrily.

"Calm down, Leo. Sly invited me here. He said that he had something he wanted to show me." Luna explained.

"That's actually… why I'm here." I spoke softly, pulling up a chair as I sat down beside Luna, facing Sly. "Sorry, I don't think I've properly introduced myself to you yet. My name's Tyler." I smiled. I went to reach out for a handshake, but Sly just sighed.

"What do you want…?" he muttered.

"Well, I'm very sorry if I'm mistaken, but… Did I see you today, around the side of the garage? You know, Yusei's place at the Fountain Plaza?"

"You _might_ have. What's your point?"

"Well, see… Yusei wasn't there, and he left his deck on the windowsill. Now, I didn't think of taking it and putting it somewhere else but, um… One of his cards seems to have been misplaced. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Tyler, what are you talking about?" Luna asked.

Sly let out a short laugh. "I don't need to listen to this…" he muttered, getting up out of his seat.

"We know you took Yusei's Stardust Dragon!" Leo yelled, pounding his hands down onto the table. "So just give it back!"

Luna looked towards Leo, then to Sly, and then towards me. "Is that true, Sly?"

"Look, Sly…" I began. "If you happened to take the card, that's okay, that's perfectly understandable. Maybe you took it accidentally. Maybe you just wanted to show the card off to a couple buddies. That's fine, but… It's not your card. You can't just take something that doesn't belong to you. If you give me the card, I'll tell Yusei that I just misplaced it, and everything'll be okay. You won't get in trouble." I tried to assure him. By this point, I was more than certain that this kid had the card, but he didn't seem to be letting up. Even so, I didn't want him to be completely resistant, and I was willing to give him, in some form or another, some support, or at the very least, an out.

Sly looked on behind me, as if he was trying to figure out in his head if he could make a run for it. Sly stared back down at the wooden table, which suddenly seemed to interest him greatly.

"No…" he croaked.

"What?" Leo twitched. "He doesn't deserve Stardust Dragon!" he shouted.

"Sly…?" Luna mumbled.

"And you guys don't deserve your Synchro Monsters either!" Sly snapped, before turning to me. "Especially you. Your Duel with Heitmann was a joke. Your deck is terrible, I don't even know how you managed to beat him, and then you get a message on your phone and then you leave looking like you're gonna cry. Are you _gay_ or something?"

I chuckled, clasping my hands together. The entire revelation, the switch in Sly's demeanor honestly disarmed me just a little, and encouraged me to drop my warm behavior, which I did, almost instantly. "Oh, this is just too funny. Here I was thinking you're a good kid but a little misunderstood, and it turns out you're just an asshole."

"Sly… I…" Luna mumbled, at a loss for words. "Why? Why would you do something like this? I thought-"

"Oh just zip it!" Sly shouted. "You think _I_ care about what _you_ have to say, of _all_ people?! I don't even _like_ you!"

Luna gasped. "Wh… what…?" She got up out of her chair, taking a few steps back.

"Okay, Sly. Here's how this is gonna go: You're gonna hand over Stardust Dragon, and then we're gonna leave, and then you can do _whatever_ you like." I said.

"Yeah? You gonna make me?" Sly taunted. My heart skipped a beat as I felt someone whip past me. Sly staggered back as Leo's fist made contact with Sly's cheek.

"I'll make you regret making my sister cry!" Leo shouted. I turned to Luna and saw that she was in fact crying. My expression hardened.

"You brain dead piece of shit…" Sly muttered before charging at Leo.

I pushed Leo aside and quickly got in between the two boys as Sly stopped. "Okay, I think that's enough-" My head snapped back slightly as Sly landed a punch on the side of my face.

I knew better than to get into a fight with the smart mouthed, shit-eating kid, even though there was a small part of me telling the rest of me just to hit him once, hard and fast. I didn't though. I didn't get the chance. Leo tackled Sly to the ground, hands tightly gripping his neck as he throttled him against the cold, hard floor. Sly frantically pushed against Leo's arms in an attempt for him to let go.

I knelt down, reaching over and into the pockets of Sly's shorts until I found Stardust Dragon. It was a little bent, but other than that it was still in good condition. "Leo, it's here. I got it. You can let him go." I said. Leo however kept on strangling Sly as I noticed the latter's eyes start to water and close. "Leo, that's enough!" I repeated.

"Stop it, Leo!" Luna shouted. I groaned, pulling Leo off of Sly and once again separating the two boys, Sly desperately gasping for air. Leo pulled forward and kicked Sly in the groin, who howled in pain and writhed against the floor.

"Stay away from me, and stay away from my sister, or you'll be sorry!" Leo spat before turning back to us and walking over to Luna. "Luna, are you okay?" he asked softly.

Luna stayed silent as she sniffed repeatedly, tear stains on her face. Luna twitched, and then she ran, not into Leo's arms, but into mine.

I felt the front of my shirt dampen as Luna sniffed profusely, her breathing erratic and heavy. I took my jacket off and wrapped it around Luna as she shivered, gripping my shirt feverishly.

I looked to Sly, grunting in pain, before looking back down at Luna, quivering against me.

"Come on. I'll take you guys home."

* * *

Silence.

That was basically all there was as I kept along a road to take the twins back to their place. I had Luna basically sitting in my lap with Leo behind me clutching my shoulders, only Leo and I wearing helmets. It wasn't _exactly_ legal what I was doing, but I did have my auto-pilot on, and I made sure to stay well within the speed limit.

Leo tried talking with Luna a little about what happened with Sly and everything, but she wasn't in any mood to talk. That is until I took a left turn where we passed by a clearing and Luna started trembling. "Tyler, c-can you p-pull over for a second?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course..." I muttered, turning my indicator on as I slowly changed lanes, before pulling over to the side of the road.

Luna scrambled out from in front of me and ran over to the grass. I kept my eyes squarely on the road ahead as I heard her cough, splutter and gag. After a few minutes, the sounds died down and Luna walked back over to us, her body almost entirely devoid of color.

"Are you alright?" I spoke softly.

"I'm so sorry about that…" Luna mumbled.

"You don't have to be sorry." I assured her. "Do you wanna take a moment just to rest?"

"I just want to go home…" Luna's voice wavered.

"Okay," I nodded. "We're almost there, so don't worry."

Luna clambered on my Duel Runner, her movements shaky, her body still shivering against mine. After checking to make sure that both the twins were set, I took off slowly, getting back into the correct lane as I took them home.

* * *

We pulled up outside of the apartment complex and Leo got off almost straight away, handing me back my spare helmet and going inside in silence.

"A-are you going to stay?" Luna asked as she turned back to me.

"Unfortunately I can't. I need to get Stardust Dragon back to Yusei's place. I'm sorry."

"Oh..." Luna muttered, the depression clear in her voice.

"But listen... Sly's an idiot. You're such a great person. You're fun, you're caring, you're kind. You're the best person I know, and you shouldn't let Sly get to you. You've got a wonderful brother who loves you, and as I said, I think you're just the best."

"Tyler..." Luna whispered, a smile slowly forming on her face.

"Look, tomorrow's the weekend. If you want, I can come over in the morning, and then we can go out and do something. Just the two of us. We can do whatever you want."

"That would be great."

"Cool... Alright, will you be up by ten o'clock?"

"Yep." She smiled.

"Okay, awesome. I'll see you then." I said, revving my Duel Runner as I turned myself around and headed on back to Yusei's place.


	6. Something That Will Last

As my breathing quickened, I knocked on the door to Leo and Luna's penthouse. I could hear frantic movement from inside, so I quickly patted myself down and straightened up. I could feel both my wallet and bottle of pills resting nicely in their separate pockets.

I hadn't actually gotten that much sleep with all that had happened the previous night with Sly and everything. I'd managed to get Stardust Dragon back to Yusei's in once piece, and bent it back into shape by putting it under a copy of the White Pages. Even though the Stardust Dragon issue had been resolved, I was still worried about Luna, as she'd unfortunately been put in pretty bad shape thanks to Sly.

The upside to me getting almost no sleep was that I was able to get up early and prepare for the day, which I had promised to spend with Luna. I'd picked out my stuffy collared shirt, which was basically the only remotely fancy thing I had in terms of clothing, and I spent a little less than an hour shaving, wanting to make myself look and feel as good as I could.

All that said, I was not at _all_ expecting Luna to look how she did when she answered the door.

Gone was her usual attire, and in its place, Luna wore a tiered white and pink skirt, a ribbon resting neatly at the top near her chest and below her neck. Her pigtails were gone too, Luna now having her hair straight and neatly brushed, and her sneakers had been replaced with light pink circo shoes.

"Well don't _you_ look lovely?" I smiled. When I realized how what I said might've come across or made her feel, I backtracked. "That's not to say that you don't usually, I just meant that..." I trailed off, sighing. "You know what? Let's start things again. Hi, Luna. How are you?"

Luna giggled. "Better, now that I've seen you."

"That's good. Sorry I'm a little later than I planned. My shower's busted so I had to go to Zora's. Anyway, you wanna get going?"

"Of course."

"Awesome!" I reached out for Luna to take my hand, which she did, before she turned back to the door.

"Leo! I'm going out with Tyler now! I'll see you a little later on, okay?" she called out, though there was no response. Luna sighed, quietly closing the door.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

Luna squeezed my hand. "Just Leo being Leo. Don't worry."

The two of us walked across the floor before heading into the elevator. After I pressed the button to take us to the ground floor, I noticed Luna was, in terms of health, looking a lot better than she had been the previous night, which was good. I smiled.

"Um, so Zora actually gave me some money, 'cause I helped look after the garage yesterday, so, um… if-if you want to go shopping, we can go and do that, or if you want to go and see a movie, we can do that instead, or _too_, if you'd like." I stumbled. "Sorry, I should've asked you before. What would _you_ like to do?"

The elevator doors opened and I positioned for Luna to leave the elevator, holding a button to keep the doors open. "Well, there's this really nice restaurant called Treetop which is pretty close-by. Could we go there?" Luna asked.

"Treetop... Isn't that the really expensive place?" I mulled. "I'd love to take you there, Luna, I really would, but I just don't have the money. I'm sorry."

"I don't want you to pay." Luna stated. "I suggested we go there, so I'll pay. I've brought some money with me, it's okay."

"But _I'm_ supposed to be taking you out and stuff. It's not right that you pay."

"I _want_ to." Luna insisted. "Please, Tyler..."

I sighed. I didn't want Luna to pay for me, especially if we were going to eat at one of the most expensive restaurants in New Domino City, but I also didn't want to argue with her. I figured I should've at least been grateful that she was even offering to pay for me. "Well, if you want to, then I won't say no. But some way or another, I'll pay you back."

Luna shook her head. "As long as you're with me, I'm happy paying for anything."

"Thanks, Luna." I smiled, still intent on paying her back.

* * *

"This place is so cool! You can see everything from here!" I beamed, my face to the window next to our table. Luna and I were seated at a table for two that was dressed neatly with white cloth and an oil lamp in the middle. Beside us, a window gave us a lovely view of the whole Tops area along with the majority of New Domino City. Sure, I'd seen the city before, in fact the view at Leo and Luna's place was probably better than it was where we were sitting, but of course, seeing the city then came before one of the lowest points of my life. The atmosphere of the restaurant was much nicer.

"I knew you'd like it. This restaurant is where my mom and dad had their first date with each other." Luna said, moving around in her seat. "Of course, it was at night, so the view was better, but it's still nice during the day."

"Well thank you for suggesting this place." I smiled.

"Thank _you_ for inviting me out today." Luna smiled back. "So what are you gonna get?" she asked.

"Um... I have no idea…" I tittered. Everything on the menu sounded really good, but it was all really expensive. "What about you?"

"Last time I came here with my mom, I got the Pounded Wagyu which I thought was pretty nice, so I think I might get that again."

I nodded. "I think I might get something small. Like the Lotus Root Chips." It was the cheapest food item on the menu.

"You should have more than that. Why don't you get the Fried Chicken with Ponzu Sauce instead?"

I looked down at my menu again. The Fried Chicken with Ponzu Sauce was mid-range, not too expensive, but not exactly cheap either. "Alright then. If you think I should." Almost as if on cue, a waiter walked over to our table. I turned to Luna. "Ladies first."

"Thanks..." Luna blushed, before turning to the waiter. "Um, I'll have the Pounded Wagyu with an iced tea, please."

"And for you, sir?"

"Can I get the, uh, Fried Chicken with Ponzu Sauce, and a Diet Coke, please?" I grinned, flattered at being called 'sir'.

The waiter nodded. "Anything else?" Luna and I looked to each other.

"No, I think that's all for now. Thank you." Luna smiled. The waiter bowed and walked off. A few moments of silence passed before Luna spoke again. "So I never really asked you, what did you get up to in the six months that we didn't see you for?"

"Honestly, not much. I, um… I was in a band with Taze, um..." I trailed off. I didn't really want to get into how I was seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication or anything like that. "No, that's it really."

"You were in a band?" Luna asked. "What instrument did you play?"

I looked down. I didn't really _play_ anything. Taze talked with me about me playing the guitar, but we never got around to it. Thankfully. Apart from that, the only other thing was…

"I sang." I simply said.

Luna moved forward in her seat. "…Could you sing for me?"

"Trust me, you don't want that. What we-I sang or did, it's not something you'd call music. I sound like the old lady a floor below me when she has one of her coughing fits." I explained, though when I noticed Luna's expression fade, I changed my answer to "Maybe later." And Luna smiled again. "What about you? I know you started school at Duel Academy and you had your birthday, but other stuff must've happened as well."

"Not really. Until recently, I've just been focusing on my schoolwork. It's a bit difficult because with everything that happened with the Dark Signers, I've decided to hold back a little in Duels. I don't want to draw any attention to myself. That and I still get tired sometimes during Duels, though it's more the attention thing."

"Well I don't think you should hold back. I reckon you could beat everybody in your class _easily_. You shouldn't not try your best because you're afraid of the attention, because that won't be good for your grades. You should try your best and show your teachers and the other students how _awesome_ you are!"

"You think?"

"Definitely!" I nodded. "You're a really good Duelist. I'm certain you can get to the top of your class."

"That would be great! But… well, the thing is…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm... I'm really worried about school on Monday..."

"Because of Sly?" I asked. Luna nodded. I sighed. "Luna, you shouldn't worry about him. He's a jerk. And he made a _big_ mistake with what he did."

"I'm sorry he punched you…" Luna mumbled.

"Trust me, it didn't even hurt. Besides, it's not your fault. None of what Sly did was your fault. All you did was try and be his friend, and you shouldn't feel bad for that. And just so you know, if _I_ were in his shoes, I would have _never_ done what he did. I would have done everything that I could to keep someone as kind and special as you as my friend, and I would treat you like one of the most important people in the world."

"Tyler…" Luna's expression softened and I smiled.

My eyes wandered. A few tables down from us, I noticed a woman dressed in a nice-looking blazer staring at me. As my eyes locked to hers, a smile formed on her face.

"Tyler! Hi!" She called, waving at me as she got up from her seat and started walking over to us. I couldn't quite put my finger on where I had seen her before. "You look surprised. Do you remember me?" the woman asked with a smile.

"You _do_ look familiar..." I said.

"I'm Seria. I was doing research for the Arcadia Movement."

My heart rate increased and Luna looked at me with alarm. I hadn't really thought about all that went on at the Arcadia Movement in a long time, one reason being that I didn't exactly want to. Looking at Seria's face though pushed all the memories and feelings I had of and for that time, anger, sadness and confusion, to the forefront of my mind.

For some reason though, part of me was also happy that I saw her again. After all, she was probably the one who was looking out for me the most at the Arcadia Movement. Maybe even one of the few who actually cared about me at that point in time.

"Seria, hi!" I said, getting up out of my seat. I extended my hand for a handshake, but Seria pulled me into a hug.

"It's _so_ good to see you again!" she chirped, pulling away and resting her hands on my shoulders. Seria looked to Luna and then to me.

"Oh, Luna. Seria's one of the cool people at the Arcadia Movement. You know, like, she actually cared about me and stuff." I explained.

"To be honest, the way they went about things never really sat well with me. But I guess it's not a problem anymore. The whole organization is gone. Although, I never did apologize for everything you went through." Seria sighed.

"You don't need to apologize. It wasn't you who really did anything wrong, and I mean… you _did_ save my life."

"Even so, I wouldn't have had to save you if I had've done what was right in the first place..." Seria muttered, looking away. "I… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have come over here. My apologies for interrupting your date." She bowed, before starting to walk away.

"_D-date_…?" Luna gasped, her face reddening.

"Seria, wait!" I called to her. Seria stopped and looked back at me. "I don't blame you for what happened. I-it was Sayer, all of it, and you were only following orders. If it hadn't have been for you, I'd have probably gone down with the Arcadia Movement..." I muttered. "But anyway, that's enough of the morbid depressing stuff. What have you been up to?"

Seria walked back over to me. "Well actually, a couple months ago, I was offered a job at the Public Security Bureau. And so, I started an exciting new chapter in my life!"

"So what are you doing now then?" I asked.

"My new job is to make sure the Grand Prix runs smoothly, but today I have the day off, so I thought I'd treat myself to a nice lunch. You seem to be doing very well if you're eating here."

"Actually, Luna's paying for me." I stated.

Seria looked to Luna before her eyes widened. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. My name is Seria. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Luna."

"N-nice to meet you too…" Luna stammered.

"So, are you thinking of entering the Grand Prix, Tyler?"

"Uhh… honestly I haven't really thought about it. I mean, I'd like to, but the people I'd want to partner with are already part of a team, so probably not."

"Wait, you mean Yusei, Crow and Jack?" Luna asked. I nodded. "I haven't actually heard that they had planned what they were going to do. Why don't you ask Yusei if you can join his team? I'm sure he'd say yes."

"But then there'd be four of us, and you can only have three to a team." I said.

"Well Yusei told me that you can actually have four on a team, but that the fourth person is in reserve just in case anything happens on the day. You could alternate with Crow. Or Jack."

"Maybe…"

I pondered what Luna had said for a moment. Seria moved away as a gentleman walked over with mine and Luna's meals, placing them down in front of us.

"Well, looks like your food's here. So I'll let you start eating it before it goes cold. It was nice to see you again, Tyler." Seria smiled. "I hope to see you participating in the Grand Prix."

"Thanks." I smiled. Seria returned my gesture and bowed, before walking away.

Luna and I turned to each other.

"Shall we eat?"

* * *

I moved my eating utensils to the side, taking a napkin to clean my face with.

The food. Oh my God! The _food_! It was most definitely the best thing I had ever tasted! Truthfully, I didn't even know what Ponzu Sauce was, and so I was a bit apprehensive before I started eating it, but I was glad that I listened to Luna and got it. That being said, I probably should've paced myself a little better, as I had finished eating while Luna was only about halfway through her meal.

"Sorry," I chuckled. "I think I should've eaten a little bit slower."

Luna finished her mouthful and looked to me. "Did you enjoy it?"

"I did. Thank you for suggesting it."

"You're welcome." Luna blushed, before continuing her meal. I moved around in my seat, happy to wait for Luna to finish eating. "I, um… I forgot the last time I had this, I couldn't end up finishing it all. Would you like some?" she offered.

"No thank you, I'm fine. Thank you for offering though."

"I'll see if I can get a plastic container for it when the waiter comes by again."

I nodded. "So, have you thought about what you want to do next?"

"Not really. I was going to suggest that we could go to an ice cream place for some dessert if you're still hungry."

"Sounds good to me. But _I'm_ paying this time, okay?" I shifted back in my seat. My eyes widened as I felt my bottle of pills in my right pocket slip out and fall to the ground.

"What was that?" Luna asked.

"Nothing. It's alright." I assured her, bending over my side and retrieving the bottle, silently sliding it back into my pocket before it fell out again. "Damn it!" I cracked. "Sorry, just gimme a sec." I sighed, getting up out of my seat to retrieve the bottle, as it had rolled further away from me.

"What are those?" Luna asked.

I turned, fumbling to put the bottle back in my pocket before sitting back down in my seat. "What's what?"

"You-you had a little bottle of something. What have you got? What's it for?"

"It's nothing, Luna. Don't worry about it." I said as calmly as possible.

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't need it." Luna stated. "What's going on?"

My eyes fell to the plate in front of me. I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest. My whole body felt as if it was rocking back and forth with each beat, the sound, to me, almost like a timpani. I could feel it happening again. The loss of control. The fear. This time though, I had to power through it. Luna had seen me with the pills, and I couldn't get away with lying now.

"It's medication." I admitted, and before I knew it, I'd already started telling Luna the whole story. "You remember that night, at your place, when I almost… um…" I muttered, stopping myself as I didn't even want to say the word. Luna nodded carefully. "Well I realized that I had a lot of issues that I had to work through… I-I still do… Anyway, I've been seeing a psychiatrist since then. He prescribed these pills to… help me deal with my problems, get rid of my anxiety, stress, and depression. That's why until recently, I hadn't seen you or anyone else, I wanted…" I had to stop, as I found myself becoming more and more choked up. "I'm sorry…" I mumbled, putting a closed hand to my mouth. The two of us sat in silence as the notion that I had totally fucked up became apparent. I couldn't even bear to look at Luna anymore. I just felt absolutely terrible.

Luna reached over, placing her hand on mine. "It's okay…" She whispered.

But it wasn't.

I pulled my hand away, wiping my brow before opening my eyes and sighing, Hell-bent on continuing. "I wanted to have all my issues sorted out before I saw you guys again so that stuff like _this_ wouldn't happen. I didn't tell you guys I was taking medication because I didn't want you guys to judge me, or think any differently of me, like it's impossible for me to be normal without taking some stupid pills. I know they're stupid. Taze stopped being friends with me because of them! I… I don't want to lose you, or anyone else… You're _so_ important to me… You have no idea…"

I sat back in my chair, my mental and emotional exhaustion impalpable. I closed my eyes, breathing slowly. "Tyler…" Luna said my name softly, almost as if she could sense the strain I had needlessly put on myself. "I would never think poorly of you for trying to take care of yourself. Ever since we met, you've done so much for me, more than I think anyone else has ever done. You've saved me, you've protected me, you've always been there for me. What I'm trying to say is, you're still you, and I… I wouldn't trade you for anyone…"

I was at a complete loss for words. The smile that Luna gave me quickly brought a smile to my own face. I felt all my negative thoughts and feelings drift away as I just sat across from her, smiling uncontrollably. "Thanks…" I whispered. "Now I feel bad though. This was supposed to be for you, but you've spent more time making _me_ feel better than I have been with you."

Luna shook her head. "You've made me feel better just by being with me…"

"Thanks, Luna. And listen, I appreciate you worrying about me. I can't deny I've had a lot on my mind, and I've probably been complicating things unnecessarily, but I'm gonna be fine." I leaned forward in my seat. "Can you promise me something though?" I asked.

Luna nodded quickly. "Of course."

"At school on Monday, and I _know_ you don't wanna think about it, I want you to be bright and cheerful, even if it's only in class or around Sly. If he sees that you're even a little upset about what happened between you two, then he's won. But more than that, you _should_ be happy, and you certainly didn't deserve to be treated how you were. When you're happy, _I'm_ happy, and I'm sure everyone else is too…"

"Tyler…" Luna crimsoned.

"Now, how 'bout that ice cream? My treat."

* * *

Aside from my little upset during lunch, the rest of the day went incredibly well. Luna took me to the ice cream place in the Tops, and I bought the both of us some ice cream. It was a little expensive, but compared to the lunch that Luna had bought for me, it was nothing.

I think I actually felt a lot better too. Now that I had been open with Luna about me taking medication, I wasn't worried about it, and I was able to focus my attention on making sure she had a good time. The only thing that still bothered me was I knew that nothing I would eat from then on would ever top the Fried Chicken with Ponzu Sauce I had at Treetop.

I took Luna home in the late afternoon. We'd spent the majority of our time at the ice cream place, just sitting and chatting. I'd asked Luna if she wanted to go shopping or something, but she said she was perfectly content just talking to me.

We arrived back at Luna's place, the sun coming through the atrium of the complex, Luna and I walking hand in hand towards her front door. "Thanks for taking me out today. I had a really good time." Luna smiled as we rocked up just outside her door.

"It's my pleasure." I said before turning away. "Sorry about what happened during lunch…" I mumbled, regretting bringing it up the moment I said it.

Luna shook off my avowal before swallowing quietly. "Maybe we could… go out again sometime…?"

"I'd like that a lot." I smiled. Luna perked up, beaming at me as she moved in for a hug, her arms against my sides, her head leaning on my chest. I rested my right hand on her shoulder until she pulled away. "Well… I should let you get inside." I said.

"Y-yeah, o-okay…" Luna muttered. I smiled, turning away as I moved my hands into my front pockets. "Tyler…! Wait!" Luna called.

I turned back to her. "Yeah?"

"Um…" Luna stammered, her face going red. "I… um…" Luna sighed. "It's nothing… Forget it…"

I looked at Luna for a few seconds, trying to decide whether or not to press her on what she was going to say. From her expression, it seemed like Luna wanted to tell me something important, but I eventually decided to just let it be, and wait for Luna to tell me whatever it was she was going to at another time. "See you 'round, Luna…"

"S-see ya…!" she replied.


End file.
